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April 9 (UPI) -- The United Nations Security Council is moving forward with the State of Palestine's application for full membership to the intergovernmental body, attracting seething condemnation from Israel. The State of Palestine is one of two non-member observers of the United Nations, along with the Holy See, and has asked the Security Council to reconsider its more than decade-old application for full membership to the United Nations amid Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
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Vanessa Frazier, Malta's U.N. ambassador and this month's president of the Security Council, brought forward the State of Palestine's application on Monday and referred it for consideration to its subsidiary Committee on the Admission of New Members without objection from any of its 15 members.
The council agreed deliberations on the State of Palestine's application "has to take place during the month of April," she told reporters during a press conference following the meeting.
"That is the timeline," she said.
According to U.N. rules, the committee will examine the application and make its recommendation to the Security Council.
Then, if approved by nine of 15 members of the Security Council, the State of Palestine's application will move to the General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority vote is necessary for it to be accepted as the body's 194th state.
However, this is the second time for the Security Council to consider the State of Palestine's application.
The government had first submitted its request in 2011. The Committee on the Admission of New Members said at the time that it should recommend to the council to admit the State of Palestine, but was unable to make "a unanimous recommendation" and suggested that it become a non-member observer state, which it received in November the following year.
Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine, said in a press conference alongside Frazier that the decision Monday was again an historic one made by the council.
"It was an historic moment then, and now that historic moment has been revived again," he said.
"We sincerely hope that after 12 years since we changed our status to observer state that the Security Council will elevate itself to implementing the global consensus on the two-state solution by admitting the State of Palestine for full membership."
Ambassador Gilad Erdan, permanent representative of Israel to the United States, issued a full-throated rebuke of the State of Palestine's application and the United Nations' consideration of it, calling the former a "Nazis state" and accusing the latter of going against its charter.
"The Palestinians seek the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews," he said during a separate press conference. "The U.N. was established in the wake of World War II to prevent atrocities such as the Holocaust, but the same genocidal ideology that this body was founded to combat is still prevalent among the Palestinians -- you have to be blind like the U.N. not to see it."
He described the deliberations as "the vilest rewards for the vilest crimes."
"The very fact that this discussion is even being held is a victory for genocidal terror," he said.
Asked if he had a response to Erdan calling the State of Palestine a Nazi state, Mansour said he would not dignify him with a rebuttal.
"I accept the judgement of the General Assembly. I accept the judgement of the 140 states who do recognize the State of Palestine. And we will see what will happen in the Security Council," he said.
The State of Palestine, which is also known as the Palestinian Authority, has renewed its push of ascension into the 193-member body amid Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority was created in the 1990s to govern over parts of the West Bank not illegally occupied by Israel and the Gaza Strip, which has been under the authority of Hamas since 2007.
