UK votes against UN resolution urging legal opinion on ‘Israeli occupation’

The UK voted against a Palestinian sponsored UN resolution approved by the General Assembly, which requests the International Court of Justice to give its opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The resolution passed a vote on Friday, with 87 in favour, 26 against and 53 abstentions. The UK voted against, along with Israel, Canada, Germany, Italy, the U.S., Australia and Austria.

The resolution requests the ICJ to give its opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation … including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem.”

Fatah Secretary-General, Hussein al-Sheikh, a top candidate to replace Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the passing of the resolution, saying it “reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy, led by the president, who was pressured to withdraw or postpone the decision, but he refused.”

As expected, the resolution was slammed by Israel, with Prime Minister Netanyahu calling it a “despicable decision.”

“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land nor occupiers in our eternal capital Jerusalem and no U.N. resolution can distort that historical truth,” Netanyahu said.

Israel’s new Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also lashed out at the Palestinians in his first speech, saying “the Palestinian leadership are the ones who should stand trial, who are the only ones in the world who reward the murder of Jews just because they are Jewish.”

Israel’s new government has promised to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank, while far-right parties in the coalition would like to see an annexation of all the settlements.