New Zealand Refuses to Apologize For Sponsoring Anti-Israel Security Council Resolution

"A day after officials in Jerusalem said Israel and New Zealand agreed to end their diplomatic spat surrounding Wellington's co-sponsoring of an anti-settlements resolution at the United Nations, the country's leader rejected any suggestion that patching the rift equaled pulling support for the measure.

In a statement to the media Tuesday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English had sent a letter expressing regret over the harm the resolution had caused to ties between the countries.

On Wednesday, English said Wellington did not regret co-sponsoring UN Security Council resolution 2334 and still opposed Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.

'The resolution expressed longstanding and international policy and we stand by those positions,' English told reporters, according to the New Zealand Herald. 'Whether we agree with a country or don't disagree with them, we certainly prefer to have diplomatic connection and it's good that Israel has seen fit to restore their post in New Zealand.'...

Speaking to the Herald, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee hailed Israel for being a democracy - 'which in that part of the world is not all that usual' - but confirmed his prime minister's account that Wellington did not apologize for supporting the Resolution 2334.

'We're not apologising for anything,' he told the paper..."