Angered by a UN vote in favor of Palestine.. Netanyahu: The General Assembly's decision is "despicable" and does not bind Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday launched an attack on the United Nations General Assembly after it voted earlier in favor of asking the International Court of Justice to express its opinion on Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.

Netanyahu described the decision as "despicable", saying that "the Jewish people are not occupiers on their land, and they are not occupiers in our eternal capital, Jerusalem, and there is no United Nations resolution that can distort that historical fact," stressing that the UN resolution does not oblige Israel.

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice to consider the issue of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The resolution won the support of 87 votes, 26 objections, and 53 abstentions, amid the division of Western countries on the issue, while the Arab countries voted unanimously in favor of it, including those that normalized their relations with Israel.

The text calls for the International Court - which is based in The Hague - to determine "the legal consequences of Israel's continued violation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination," in addition to its measures to "change the demographic composition, character and status of the city of Jerusalem."

The Palestinian delegate to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said that the vote sent a message to Netanyahu's new government regarding its intention to promote "settlement and racist" policies, praising countries that did not succumb to "threats and pressures."

The resolution also calls on Israel to put an end to settlement activity, but the General Assembly does not have binding authority, unlike the UN Security Council, where the United States, Israel's ally, has veto power.

For his part, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan described the decision as "a moral disgrace to the United Nations," adding, "No international organization can decide whether the Jewish people are occupied in their land."

The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany opposed the resolution, while France abstained.