Israel downgrades ties with New Zealand, Senegal after anti-Israel resolution

Israel is conveying a message that it will not tolerate attacks against the Jewish state at the UN.

Israel has permanently downgraded its diplomatic ties with New Zealand and Senegal, sanctioning these countries for co-sponsoring an anti-Israel resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in December that criticized Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also serves as Israel’s foreign minister, decided last week not to return Israel’s ambassadors to Wellington and Dakar after they had been recalled after Resolution 2334 passed in December, according to an Israeli diplomatic source quoted by Israel Radio.

Israel will be represented by a charges d’affaires, a lower-level diplomat, in both countries.

Furthermore, Netanyahu had ordered that all Israeli assistance to Senegal be halted. “Those who work with us will benefit because Israel has much to give to the countries of the world. But those who work against us will lose – because there will be a diplomatic and economic price for their actions against Israel,” Netanyahu stated after the vote.

The cutting of Israel’s assistance to Senegal will shut down a multi-million-shekel agricultural project in the African country.

By reacting in such a harsh way, Israel hopes to convey the message that it takes action against Israel at the UN very seriously.

By: World Israel News Staff