WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The news came as the United States refused to veto an Egyptian-sponsored UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements. The resolution was passed by 14 of the 15 council members with no nation voting against it.
"A priority for the new Congress and the next administration must be to reverse course and strengthen our relationship with Israel," Toomey tweeted on Friday.
In the past, the United States has used its veto in the Security Council to block resolutions critical of Israel.
"President Obama’s lame duck directive to abstain from the vote is a betrayal that caps off eight years of indifference towards one of our greatest allies," Toomey said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry defended the abstention as a necessary step to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has bedeviled every US leader going back to President Harry Truman.
President-elect Donald Trump, who unsuccessfully sought to prevent the vote, tweeted earlier on Friday that things will be different in his administration with respect to Israel.
Nearly 600,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which was captured from the Palestinians during the six-day war in 1967. In Israel, the settler movement is championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
