Israel cuts $6 million UN funding over resolution on settlements

Israel said on Friday it will cut $6 million in funding to the U.N. in 2017 in protest against a Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlement on Palestinian land.

The United States abstained from the December 23 vote, allowing the 15-member Security Council to adopt the resolution with 14 votes in favour. Israel and US President-elect Donald Trump say Washington should have wielded its veto.

"It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN," Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement. "The U.N. must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and anti-Israel propaganda."

The Israeli mission said it would move ahead with further initiatives aimed at ending "anti-Israel activities" at the United Nations after Trump takes office on January 20.

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war. Most countries and the United Nations view Israeli West Bank settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, including the US which is the biggest ally to Israel.

Israel disputes that settlements are illegal and says their final status should be determined in any future talks on Palestinian statehood.

The last round of US-led peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians collapsed in 2014 after Israel launched a devastating 50-day operation on the Gaza Strip, saying rockets were fired from Palestinian land to Israel.

The operation lasted almost two months and left at least 2,160 Palestinians killed, mostly civilians including dozens of children, with some 11,000 injured, according to data by United Nation and Palestinian officials.

At least 73 Israelis – 68 soldiers and five civilians – were also killed during the conflict.

The Security Council last adopted a resolution critical of settlements in 1979, with the United States also abstaining.