ISRAEL has slashed payments to the United Nations after it passed a landmark resolution blasting the building of settlements on occupied Arab land.

The UN security council decreed Israel should halt all settlement expansion after Barack Obama’s outgoing US administration refused to veto the resolution on Friday.

1 Credit: AP:Associated Press

A White House official said Obama had abstained because Israel was not engaged in “meaningful” moves to secure a peace deal with its enemies.

The UK, Russia, France, and China also voted in favour of the resolution, which described Israeli settlement building as a “flagrant violation” of international law.

The resolution - passed by a 14 votes to nil - was greeted with loud applause in the packed chamber after the US ambassador, Samantha Power ducked the vote.

Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu immediately condemned the move as “shameful” amid claims Obama had acted out of spite before more pro-Israeli Donald Trump takes power.

Netanyahu said Israel would now reassess ties with the UN and immediately cut off funds to several UN institutions.

He said: “I have already instructed to stop about 30m shekels (£6.3m) in funding to five UN bodies that are especially hostile to Israel ... and there is more to come.”

The security council has not adopted a resolution critical of Israel’s building since 1979 when the US again refused to to use its veto on the powder keg issue over the seizure of Arab lands.

Israel also recalled its ambassadors from New Zealand and Senegal, which voted for the resolution - and axed all aid programmes to Senegal.

New Zealand’s foreign minister, Murray McCully, said: “We have been very open about our view that the security council should be doing more to support the Middle East peace process.

“The position we adopted today is totally in line with our long-established policy on the Palestinian question.”