Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called a UN Security Council statement denouncing Israeli West Bank settlement activity "one-sided" and criticized the United States for supporting it.
"The UN Security Council has released a one-sided statement that disregards the Jewish people's right to live in their ancestral homeland, ignores Palestinian terrorist attacks, turns a blind eye to the Palestinians funding terrorism and downplays the antisemitism that led to the Holocaust," Netanyahu's office said.
Ambassador Erdan speaks at UN Security Council meeting
(Video: UNTV)
"That statement should never have been said and the U.S. should never have joined it."
The Security Council convened on Monday to discuss the Israeli government's recent decisions to authorize nine West Bank outposts and advance mass construction in established settlements.
"The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines," the international body said in its statement.
"The Security Council expresses deep concern and dismay with Israel's announcement on February 12."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield aired similar concerns.
"These unilateral measures exacerbate tensions. They harm trust between the parties. They undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution. The United States does not support these actions full stop," she said.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan slammed the Security Council for its supposed indifference to acts of terror against Israelis committed by Palestinians which prompted the government's settlement push.
"This council should have been convened when innocent Israelis paid with their blood due to incitement and hatred by the Palestinian Authority," he said.
"I won't let those victims be forgotten. I will take a moment's silence to honor the victims of Palestinian terror. I hope you think of them in the future when you speak of the real impediments to peace in the region."
Erdan then displayed a photo of Yaakov and Asher Pali, two 6 and 8-year-old brothers who were killed when a Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into a bus station in Jerusalem last week.
"Israel mourns the loss of 11 terror victims and dozens injured, but this meeting is simply to scorn Israel. You convene meetings about building settlements but say not one word about murdered Jewish children. It's a disgrace," he added.
"The Palestinian Authority is conducting a monstrous propaganda campaign that would make Goebbels and Hitler proud. They poison minds and teach that murdering Jews means everlasting glory. Their kindergartens teach that becoming a martyr is the only way.
The Palestinian Authority is a terrorist entity that rewarded a total sum of $175 million for murderers of Jews in the last year alone. Their support of terror is a violation of international law and the main obstacle for peace.
Where was your concern when they were handing out candy for those celebrating the killing of Israelis? Israel will never accept a terrorist entity dedicated to our destruction right on our borders."
United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said in a statement: "Unilateral actions are moving the parties still further apart, exacerbating tensions and driving the conflict. I call upon the parties to match security efforts with political steps that can halt the negative slide and restore hope in an end to the conflict and prospects for a viable two-State Solution."