The United States has accused Libya of preventing the United Nations Security Council from condemning fatal shootings at a Jewish school in Jerusalem as a "terrorist attack".
The United States had drafted a statement that was discussed at an emergency UN Security Council session called to debate an attack by a Palestinian gunman who killed at least eight people and wounded at least 10 more at an Israeli religious school.
The US delegation had hoped the 15-nation council would unanimously support the text but Libya, backed by several other council members, prevented its adoption.
"We were not able to come to an agreement because the Libyan delegation with the support of one or two others did not want to condemn this act by itself but wanted to link it to other issues," US ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said after the council meeting.
The Libyans wanted to include in the statement language condemning the recent Israeli incursions into Gaza, which have killed over 120 Palestinians, many of them civilians.
Mr Khalilzad rejected that, saying killing students in a school was different from the unintentional killing of civilians.
Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin agreed, saying the attack by the Palestinian gunman was a "clear-cut individual act of terrorism."
But Libya's deputy ambassador, Ibrahim al-Dabbashi, responded: "We don't need a certificate of good conduct from the Israeli terrorist regime." He also said the council should not speak about the Jerusalem attack while ignoring the Gaza situation.
"If the council should take any action, it should be a balanced action and should condemn the killing in Gaza as well as the killing in Jerusalem," Mr al-Dabbashi said.
Libya objected over the weekend to the use of the word "terrorism" to describe Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel in a draft council statement about Gaza.