The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to annul President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The nonbinding resolution declaring U.S. action on Jerusalem “null and void” was approved 128-9, even though President Donald Trump previously threatened to cut off aid to the countries that would oppose his decision. In the end, 35 of the 193 UN member nations abstained and 21 were absent, Associated Press reported.
The resolution reaffirms the stand that Jerusalem’s final status must be decided in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, but official Washington said that the vote will not affect their plan to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he rejects the preposterous resolution, while Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour said that the vote was a victory not only for Palestinians but for the UN and international law as well. He added that U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley failed miserably in persuading only seven countries aside from the United States and Israel to vote against the resolution.
“And they used unprecedented tactics, unheard of in the diplomatic work at the UN, including blackmail and extortion,” he said.
Ahead of the vote, Haley sent letters to over 180 countries and warned them that Washington would be taking names of those who voted against the U.S. and Trump threatened that he would cut off aid, but even major U.S. aid recipients like Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa supported the resolution. U.S., Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, the Marshall Islands and Togo did not support the resolution.
“We appreciate these countries for not falling to the irresponsible ways of the UN,” Haley wrote on Twitter after the vote and tweeted a photo naming the 65 nations that voted no, abstained or were absent.
Afterwards she invited their ambassadors to a reception on January 3 to thank them for the friendship.
The Trump administration appeared to be backing away from its funding threats only a few hours after the vote. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said cuts to countries that opposed the U.S. were not a foregone conclusion.
“The president’s foreign policy team has been empowered to explore various options going forward with other nations. However, no decisions have been made,” Nauert said.
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