The White House declined to comment on Netanyahu’s criticism.
The U.S. and much of the international community consider Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as an obstacle to peace. Netanyahu rejects such claims, blaming the failure of peace efforts on the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel’s Jewish identity.
The decision to abstain from the vote was one of the biggest American rebukes of its long-standing ally in recent memory and marked a final chapter in the icy relations between Netanyahu and Obama over the last eight years.
Netanyahu called the decision “distorted” but said Israel will overcome it.
He said he had spoken with U.S leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, who vowed to fight the move, including, he said, from Israel’s “friend” in the incoming administration, the president-elect.
“The decision taken at the U.N. yesterday was part of the swan song of the old world biased against Israel,” Netanyahu said. “We are entering a new era and as the President-elect Trump said yesterday, this is going to happen much quicker than people think. In this new era there is a high price for those trying to harm Israel,” he said.
