The United Nations Security Council voted Friday to condemn Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank as the United States abstained and allowed the resolution to pass.
This breaks America's longstanding tradition of serving as Israel's most loyal western ally. And despite pressure from President-elect Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Obama administration allowed the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction.
Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, reacted to the decision by criticizing the Obama administration.
"It was to be expected that Israel's greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share and that they would have vetoed this disgraceful resolution. I have no doubt that the new US administration and the incoming UN Secretary General will usher in a new era in terms of the UN's relationship with Israel," he said.