Israel has recalled its ambassador to New Zealand for consultations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take place on Thursday.  Meanwhile, all sorts of details are leaking out over last Friday's landmark UN Security Council resolution calling in Israel to stop building "illegal" settlements on Palestinian land.

Israel has put a hold on retaliatory sanctions against New Zealand for leading the push for the resolution, which passed in the Security Council by a 14-0 vote, and one crucial abstention from Israel's usual protector, the US.  But it is clear that Mr. Netanyahu has particular ire for New Zealand, going as far as to personally phone Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully in the hours before the vote to warn him the resolution was a "declaration of war".

"This is a scandalous decision.  I'm asking that you not support and you not promote it," Netanyahu told McCully, acccording to a detailed report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.  "If you continue to promote this resolution from our point of view it will be a declaration of war.  It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences.  We'll recall our ambassador to Jerusalem."

Mr. McCully held firm, and reportedly told Netanyahu:  "This resolution conforms to our policy and we will move it forward."

New Zealand had been working on a similar resolution over the past two years, but with gentler language.  The version that came to a vote was originally pushed by Egypt, which had behind the scenes help with the wording from the Palestinians - and, as Haaretz reports, the UK.  The Israelis suspect that the British were working to make sure the wording was to US President Barack Obama's liking - strong, but not strong enough to require a veto from the US.  On Thursday, Egypt changed its mind about being the champion of resolution; Senegal, Malaysia, and Venezuela joined New Zealand then picked it up and called for a vote.

On Friday, Netanyahu tried to call in a favor from Russia:  Israel had already helped Russia by absenting from a General Assembly vote about war crimes in Syria.  It's not known what was said, but it clearly didn't work; Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin made a half-hearted attempt to delay the vote without objecting to the resolution's contents. 

Once all the wrangling was over, Ambassadors walked into the Security Council and knocked out the vote in a matter of minutes.