Israel received most condemnations at UN in 2018

 The UN approved at least six anti-Israel resolutions in a single day on November 30, while a separate resolution passed in December renewed condemnation of the US’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital,” Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.

The anti-Israel resolutions further voiced support for long-stalled efforts to achieve a so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while separately censuring Israel’s continued occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights.

Israel seized some two thirds of the rocky plateau in southwestern Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. It later unilaterally annexed the occupied territory in a move not recognized by the international community.

Last month, outgoing US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley criticized the world body for condemning Israel at least 500 times over the years.

She made the comments after a US-sponsored draft resolution seeking to condemn Palestinian resistance group Hamas at the United Nations General Assembly failed to gain sufficient traction.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds during the Six Day War in 1967. It later annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds in a move not recognized by the international community.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built illegally since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The continued expansion of Israeli settlements is one of the major obstacles to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.

In recent months, Tel Aviv has stepped up its settlement construction activities in the occupied Palestinian lands in a blatant violation of international law and in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.

European nations and the United Nations, among others, maintain their strong opposition to settlement building in the Palestinian territories.

Tensions have also been running high in the occupied territories over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital and relocation of the US embassy to the occupied city.

On December 21, last year, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the US to withdraw its controversial policy shift.

Despite the vote, the US went ahead with the embassy transfer on May 14.