Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened New Zealand's foreign minister ahead of the United Nations Security Council's resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Haaretz reported.
"This is a scandalous decision. I'm asking that you not support it and not promote it," Netanyahu told Murray McCully, according to Western diplomats who spoke to Haaretz on the condition of anonymity. "If you continue to promote this resolution, from our point of view, it will be a declaration of war. It will rupture the relations, and there will be consequences. We'll recall our ambassador to Jerusalem."
The conversation did not sway McCully to back down from the vote.
"This resolution conforms to our policy, and we will move it forward," he told the prime minister.
The details of their interaction comes two days after NPR reported Netanyahu, in his weekly cabinet meeting, criticized President Obama for the U.S. abstaining from the vote. He also accused Obama of organizing the resolution.
"From the information that we have, we have no doubt that the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu's allies claim it has "hard evidence that the Obama administration drafted documents to end the settlements," the Guardian reported.
"We have rather ironclad information from sources in both the Arab world and internationally that this was a deliberate push by the United States, and in fact they helped create the resolution in the first place," David Keyes, a Netanyahu spokesman, told Fox News on Sunday.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.