The Latest on the aftermath of the U.S. allowing an anti-settlement resolution to pass through the U.N. security council (all times local):
1:45 p.m.
A Jerusalem city councilman says a municipal committee has delayed a vote on roughly 500 new homes in Jewish areas of east Jerusalem following a request from Israel’s prime minister.
Council member Hanan Rubin told The Associated Press that Benjamin Netanyahu asked to delay Wednesday’s vote so as not to antagonize relations with the U.S.
Rubin says the council did not want U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to mention the building in his anticipated policy speech on Wednesday, turning it into a “political issue.”
Israel captured east Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital.
Israel is angry the U.S. allowed a resolution to pass in the U.N. Security Council calling settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank a “flagrant violation” of international law.
1 p.m.
An Israeli minister says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s planned policy speech Wednesday on the Israeli-Palestinian issue is a “pathetic move” and “anti-democratic.”
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Israel Army Radio that if Kerry lays out principles for a peace deal, as he is expected to do in his speech, it will limit President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to set his own policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Erdan said Obama administration officials are “pro-Palestinian” and “don’t understand what’s happening in the Middle East.”
He said the Obama administration’s refusal to veto a recent U.N. Security Council resolution, which calls settlements a flagrant violation of international law, “threatens the security of Israel.”
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12 p.m.
A senior leader of a Jewish settlement council is calling U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry “a stain on American foreign policy” and “ignorant of the issues.”
Oded Revivi, chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, made the remarks ahead of Kerry’s final policy speech on Mideast peace Wednesday.
Revivi said Kerry is “the worst secretary of state in history” who “chose to stab his closest ally in the back” and knows little about the realities of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Israel is angry the U.S. allowed a resolution to pass in the United Nations Security Council calling settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law. Israel accuses the U.S. of orchestrating the resolution.
Kerry oversaw failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 2013-2014.