U.S. FLEXES MUSCLES ON JERUSALEM VOTE
Trump threatens to cut funds to UN states supporting motion
washington — US President Donald Trump threatened funding cuts for unspecified countries as the UN General Assembly prepared to vote today on condemning Washington’s recognition of occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“All these nations that take our money and then vote against us at the Security Council and they vote against us potentially at the Assembly,” Trump said at the White House. “They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes,” he continued.
“Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”
Earlier, US Ambassador Nikki Haley, in a letter to dozens of UN states on Tuesday, warned that the United States would remember those who voted for the resolution criticising the US decision. “The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us. We will take note of each and every vote on this issue,” Haley wrote. She echoed that call in a Twitter post: The US will be taking names.”
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Malki accused Washington of “threatening” member countries of the UN Assembly ahead of the vote. Al Malki said American officials were “committing another mistake when they have distributed this famous letter trying to threaten countries, (and) threaten their sovereign decision to choose how to vote”. — Reuters, AFP
new york — US ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday warned countries that she will report back to President Donald Trump with the names of those who support a draft resolution rejecting the US decision to recognise ocupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency session on Thursday to vote on the proposed measure that the United States vetoed at the Security Council.
“The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us,” said the letter from Haley.
“We will take note of each and every vote on this issue,” she wrote to several UN ambassadors.
On Twitter, Haley posted on Twitter that “the US will be taking names” during the vote on Thursday at the 193-nation assembly.
Turkey and Yemen requested the urgent meeting on behalf of the Arab group of countries and the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The two countries circulated a draft resolution on Tuesday that mirrors the vetoed measure, reaffirming that any decision on the status of occupied Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be rescinded.
Egypt had put forward the draft at the council which was backed by all 14 other Security Council members in the vote on Monday.
Like the Egyptian draft, the text before the assembly does not mention Trump’s decision but expresses “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem.”
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said he expected “overwhelming support” for the measure stating that Jerusalem is an issue “to be resolved through negotiations” between Israel and the Palestinians.
“The General Assembly will say, without the fear of the veto, that the international community is refusing to accept the unilateral position of the United States,” Mansour told reporters.
Haley described the 14-1 Security Council vote “an insult” and warned “it won’t be forgotten.”
She went further on Tuesday, warning in her Twitter post: “At the UN we’re always asked to do more & give more. So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don’t expect those we’ve helped to target us.
“On Thurs there’ll be a vote criticising our choice. The US will be taking names.” — AFP