Israel on Friday summoned the French ambassador over his country's support this week for a failed Palestinian bid to pass a United Nations resolution calling for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines by 2013, formally expressing its “deep disappointment”.
According to end-of-year figures released on Wednesday, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, aliyah or immigration to Israel hit a ten-year high in 2014, with the arrival of some 26,500 new immigrants.
The Likud membership goes to the polls Wednesday as the party is expected to easily return Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as party leader while senior Likud figures are vying for a prominent place on the list of parliamentary candidates.
2014 was a “year of unprecedented explosions of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hatred,” the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center said as it published its list of the ten worst anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incidents over the last twelve months.
If the Palestinians force a vote before January 1, knowing they will not get the nine votes needed, then it is clear that they are interested in a defeat in order to avoid a US veto.
The United States has clarified that it would oppose an amended version of a controversial Palestinian-led United Nations Security Council resolution, should it come to a vote.
