Israel to slash payments to UN, give money instead to supportive countries

The ministry issued a statement saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed it to slash the $2m. to the United Nations as a result of the anti-Israel resolutions passed last week.

By HERB KEINON
Updated: MARCH 30, 2017 09:42
United Nations General Assembly in New York (photo credit: REUTERS)
United Nations General Assembly in New York
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel will cut $2 million from money it has allocated to the UN and give it instead to programs in developing nations that support it in international organizations, the Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.
The ministry issued a statement saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed it to slash the $2m. to the United Nations as a result of the anti-Israel resolutions passed last week in the UN Human Rights Council.
This cut is in addition to the $6m. that Jerusalem slashed in January in the aftermath of the passage of anti-settlement Resolution 2334 in the UN Security Council. Following these cuts, Israel will contribute only $3.7m. this year to the UN, instead of the $10.7m. that was originally earmarked.
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The ministry said that this decision is part of an Israeli campaign – along with its friends, first and foremost the US – to change the “obsessive bias against Israel at the UN and in its agencies.”
In January, Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon announced the cutting of $6m. by saying, “It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN.”
The UN, he said, “must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and anti-Israel propaganda.”