Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a UN security council's call to stop Israeli settlements in the occupied land is shameful and that the country will ignore Friday's vote at the 15-member UN Security Council.

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"Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms," Netanyahu said.

"At a time when the Security Council does nothing to stop the slaughter of half-a-million people in Syria, it disgracefully gangs up on the one true democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and calls the Western Wall 'occupied territory'," Netanyahu complained.

Israel also announced that it had recalled its ambassadors to Senegal and New Zealand and cut all aid programs to Senegal.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesperson said that the UN resoution will be a huge blow to Israeli policy. 

Egypt had withdrawn the resolution after Israel asked US President-elect Donald Trump to intervene. However, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, and Venezuela decided to reintroduce the motion during the Security Council meeting.

The resolution was passed after the United States refused to veto it, breaking the country's long-standing practice of sheltering Israel from condemnatory resolutions. The resolution was approved by 14 votes to zero, with only the United States abstaining. 

In the resolution, the UN Security Council demanded that Israel quit all settlement activitities including those in East Jerusalem, adding that the Jewish settlements are a violation under international law. It also said that the settlements are a hindrance to the achievement of the two-state solution.

The settlements issue is one of the biggest sources of friction between Israel and Palestine. Approximately 500,000 Jews live in about 40 settlements built since 1967, when Israel started its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

The settlements are considered illegal under international law, an accusation that the Israeli government strongly disagrees with.

Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said that while the UN resolution has been long overdue, its ratification is timely.

TagsBenjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Jerusalem, Gaza Strip