The United Nations General Assembly has just voted overwhelmingly for the US to cancel its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
More than 120 UN member countries voted to condemn US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but those who voted have a new threat to deal with.
On the eve of the vote, Donald Trump warned member nations not to support the resolution, threatening to revoke US aid to the countries who defied him.
“Let them vote against us,” he told reporters at a Cabinet meeting. “We’ll save a lot. We don’t care. But this isn’t like it used to be, where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Donald Trump’s threatened to cut off funding to the United Nations if the UN acted against his decision in Jerusalem. The results of the votes show the UN did not take his threat seriously.
But, the US did not seem bothered by the outcome.
“America will put our embassy in Jerusalem,” Haley said in defence of the US move, which broke with international consensus and unleashed protests across the Muslim world.
“No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that,” Haley said.
More than anything else, the UN resolution proves that America is alone in its decision to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The resolution reaffirms that the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations and that any decision reached outside of that framework must be rescinded.
