U.S. Conservatives are up-in-arms Friday after the United States, traditionally an ardent supporter of Israel took the unprecedented step of abstaining from a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an end to Israeli illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian lands.
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With the U.S. abstention, the resolution was adopted with 14 votes in favor and was met with a round of applause.
Prominent U.S. Republicans including John McCain, Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham were quick to condemn the U.S. abstention as "shameful."
The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee also chimed in, calling the motion "regrettable" and charging the Obama administration with being at "odds with the bipartisan consensus in Congress and America's long history of standing with Israel at the United Nations."
The resolution was put forward by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal, with Egypt withdrawing following pressure from Israel. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier this week urged the Obama delegation to veto the resolution.
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The resolution demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,” stating that the settlements have “no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation under international law."
The decision by the U.S. to abstain over from voting represents a change in standard U.S. practice in regard to U.N. action over Israel. In October, the U.S. also decided to abstain from voting on a resolution calling for the end of the crippling U.S blockade on Cuba.
The resolution is the first the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.
Much of the international community considers the settlements in occupied territory to be illegal, with numerous United Nations resolutions calling the settlements a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The settlements are also largely funded by private tax-exempt U.S. NGOs, with an estimated US$220 million for 2009-2013 alone, according to a recent investigation.