Updated

A senior Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked the U.S. for blocking a global document at the United Nations aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, a rare bright spot amid strained relations between the two countries.

The official says Netanyahu spoke to Kerry on Saturday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to discuss the call.

The document, rejected Friday, had called on the U.N.'s secretary-general to convene the Middle East conference no later than March 2016, regardless of whether Israel and its neighbors agreed on an agenda.

Israel is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has never declared what is widely considered to be an extensive nuclear weapons program. A conference might force Israel to acknowledge it.