Failure of anti-Hamas vote riles White House

US President Donald Trump threatened to retaliate against countries that voted against a UN resolution against Hamas on Thursday, according to Ambassador Nikki Haley.

After the resolution failed to garner the two-thirds majority that it needed to pass, Mr Trump reportedly asked Washington’s UN envoy which countries should be singled out for retaliation.

Eighty-seven countries voted in favour of the bill, 57 opposed it, 33 abstained and 23 were not present.

“The president called and he said, ‘Nikki what happened?’ And I told him, and he goes, ‘Who do we need to get upset at? Who do you want me to yell at? Who do we take their money away?’” Ms Haley said in a video published on Israel’s Hadashot news site

She was speaking at a Hanukkah event after the vote.

“I’m not gonna tell you what I told him,” she said.

Yet she still viewed the vote as a victory for the US administration and Israel because the majority of countries voted to condemn the rulers of Gaza. “Eighty-seven countries said Hamas was a problem. The tide has changed. It is a new day at the UN,” she said.

Hamas has fought three wars with Israel and the US has sought to condemn the group for firing rockets into Israel.

Hamas, Palestinians living in Gaza and rights groups regularly condemn Israel for its economic siege of the coastal enclave and incursions into the territory.

The resolution was to condemn Hamas “for repeatedly firing rockets into Israel and for inciting violence, thereby putting civilians at risk”.

It would have been the first UN resolution to specifically target the group.

While Israel and the US administration lauded the result despite the resolution failing to pass, the Palestinians praised the countries that voted against the proposal.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the result in spite of an inter-Palestinian split between his Fatah faction and Hamas.

“The presidency thanked all the states that voted against the American draft resolution, affirming that it will not allow for the condemnation of the Palestinian national struggle,” the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

China and Russia voted against the resolution, while India abstained.

It is not known which countries Mr Trump wanted to threaten with cuts in funding.

But Ms Haley, in a letter sent to all UN missions, said that the “United States takes the outcome of this vote very seriously”.

The president called and he said, ‘Nikki what happened?’ And I told him, and he goes, ‘Who do we need to get upset at?’ NIKKI HALEY US Ambassador to the UN