(JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Jan. 31 urged Athens to support the Jewish state at the United Nations during a meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in Jerusalem.

The call comes after Greece abstained during December’s passage by the U.N. General Assembly of a resolution to have the International Court of Justice “render urgently an advisory opinion” on Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory.”

Netanyahu nevertheless thanked Dendias for the “close relations” between the two countries, which he said are expressed in numerous fields, most notably energy. In this respect, the prime minister instructed National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi to coordinate a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus on this issue.

Also participating in Tuesday’s meeting were Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Israeli Ambassador to Greece Noam Katz and Greek Ambassador to Israel Kyriakos Loukakis, among others.