UN votes against Trump on recognition of Jerusalem Israel, US reject vote

A major international controversy was averted yesterday by the United Nations following the rejection of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel with 128 countries voting against the move.

Despite series of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would remember which countries “disrespected” America by voting against it, the Envoy could not convince other nations to buy into their plan.

A total of 128 member nations voted in favour of the resolution supporting the longstanding international consensus that Jerusalem should not be recognized as the capital of Israel.

But countries which voted in favour of the move included major recipients of US aids such as Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The vote is on the heels of furious diplomacy by both the Trump administration and Israel, including Trump’s threat to cut US funding to countries that did not back its resolutions.

Among all the UN member countries present, only nine states – including the United States and Israel, voted in favour of US. The other countries which supported Washington were Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, Guatemala and Honduras.

However, reacting to the votes Washington said, ‘We will remember this’.

Twenty-two of the 28 EU countries voted against US, including the UK and France. Germany.

Thirty-five countries abstained, including five EU states, and other US allies including Australia, Canada, Colombia and Mexico. Ambassadors from several abstaining countries, including Mexico, used their time on the podium to criticise Trump’s unilateral move.

Another 21 delegations were absent from the vote, suggesting the Trump’s warning over funding cuts and Israel’s lobbying may have had some effect.

Immediately after the vote the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, described the result as a “victory for Palestine”. The Palestinians’ UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, described the result as a “massive setback” for the US.

“They made it about them,” Mansour told AFP. “They did not make it about Jerusalem, so when you make it about them and to only be able to get nine votes to say ‘no’ to it, I think it was a complete failure for their campaign.”

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected the UN vote out of hand.

“Israel thanks President Trump for his unequivocal position in favour of Jerusalem and thanks the countries that voted together with Israel, together with the truth,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

Trump threatens to cut aid to countries over UN Jerusalem vote.