U.N. rips Trump’s Jerusalem action
U.S. ‘will remember this day’ after being ‘disrespected’ by assembly, Haley says
The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure rejecting the U.S. government’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a rebuke of a decision that allies and adversaries alike warned would undermine prospects for peace.
Despite U.S. threats to cut aid to countries that backed the resolution and even funding for the United Nations itself, 128 countries voted in favor of the measure. Only nine countries — including the United States and Israel — voted against it. Another 35 abstained, and 21 were absent.
The vote in a rare emergency session was a public reproach of President Donald Trump’s administration for coming to a conclusion that sets the U.S. apart from other countries for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a status other governments say should be left undecided until the final stage of talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
The nonbinding resolution on “illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of occupied Palestinian territory” declared actions that predetermine Jerusalem’s fate “null and voided.” Even countries that abstained offered explanations
that distanced themselves from Trump’s Dec. 6 decision.
The vote also underscored the apparent futility of the U.S. campaign to sway votes by threatening to cut funding, which some countries viewed as an effort to intimidate them into submission. Although Trump said Wednesday that he would be “watching” for countries that receive a lot of U.S. aid and voted “against us,” the list of co-sponsors grew at the last minute to include Egypt and Jordan, the only two countries besides Israel that receive more than $1 billion in U.S. aid annually.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, set the stage for a future showdown.
“The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out in this assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation,” she said. “We will remember it when, once again, we are called up to make the world’s largest contribution to the U.N., and we will remember it when many countries come calling on us to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit.”
Characterizing the United States as “disrespected,” Haley said the U.S. Embassy will be moved to Jerusalem regardless.
Although its significance is purely symbolic, the resolution carries political resonance, particularly in the Middle East, where the U.S. decision has sparked protests and drawn condemnation from Arab governments. Underscoring the U.S. isolation on the issue, even many allies have appealed to the administration to reverse its position and leave Jerusalem’s status undecided until Israelis and Palestinians negotiate terms.
On Monday, the United States exercised its Security Council veto to block the same resolution. All 14 other countries on the council, including U.S. allies Britain and France, supported the measure. Yemen and Turkey then submitted the resolution to the General Assembly, where the United States does not have veto power.
None of the countries that voted with the United States and Israel against the resolution — Guatemala, Honduras, Togo and the Pacific island states of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau — are diplomatic powerhouses. Among those voting in favor were Russia, China and several U.S. allies, notably Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Japan and Turkey. The abstaining nations included Canada, Mexico, Australia, Colombia, Haiti, Poland and the Philippines.
But many of the countries that abstained said they would keep their embassies in Tel Aviv. Many said they abstained because they thought the resolution did nothing to help push Israelis and Palestinians to negotiations toward a two-state solution.
“Mexico does not see it as positive or useful for a unilateral declaration to have taken place to recognize Jerusalem as the capital,” said Mexico’s ambassador, Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, adding that it was unnecessary to hold an emergency session to discuss the matter.
After the vote, Haley tweeted a photo naming the 65 nations that voted no, abstained or were absent, and said: “We appreciate these countries for not falling to the irresponsible ways of the UN.”
ISRAELI THANKS TRUMP
Although the vote was lopsided, there were more abstentions than in at least five previous resolutions related to Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians.
A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations attributed the shift to Haley’s efforts, which included a warn-
ing that the administration would be “taking names” and a letter to ambassadors saying she would report the results to Trump.
“All of today’s no votes, abstentions and no-shows were in solidarity with the U.S. position, which is a testament not only to those countries’ priorities but also to the diplomatic outreach by Ambassador Haley and her team,” the spokesman said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that “Israel rejects the UN resolution and at the same time expresses satisfaction with the high number of countries that did not vote for the resolution.”
“Israel thanks President Trump for his unambiguous position in favor of Jerusalem and thanks the countries that voted together with Israel, together with the truth,” he said.
Palestinians exalted in the display of support at the United Nations. PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat called the vote “evidence that the dignified world is united against intimidation and bullying.”
Haley had watched with her arms crossed as Yemen’s U.N. ambassador, Khaled Hussein Mohamed Alyemany, introduced the resolution and called Trump’s action “a blatant violation of the rights of the Palestinian people and the Arab nations, and all Muslims and Christians of the world.”
Some of the harshest criticism came from Turkey.
“Mr. Trump, you cannot buy Turkey’s democratic will with your dollars,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted before the debate.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, spoke directly to the administration when he told the General Assembly: “We will not be intimidated. You can be strong, but this doesn’t make you right.”
In Jerusalem, however, there was relief that the Trump administration has Israel’s back, even if the U.N. showdown accomplishes nothing.
“I think when the leader of the free world recognizes the history of Jerusalem, then it is meaningful and in the long term it will make a big difference,” said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. “Clearly day to day nothing will change.” he said.
NO U.S. AID DECISIONS
The U.S. is scheduled to dispense $25.8 billion in foreign aid for 2018. Whether Trump follows through with his threat against those who voted in favor of the resolution remains to be seen.
Within hours of the U.N. vote, the Trump administration started gingerly backing away from its funding threats. In Washington, State Department spokesman 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,” Nauert said. “However, no decisions have been made.”
On U.N. funding, Haley’s office suggested the Jerusalem vote alone would not lead the Trump administration to cut off the global organization. Under Trump, the U.S. has been conducting a broader review of U.N. funding and has already cut money to some specific U.N. agencies over abortion-related concerns.
“We will use U.N. votes as one factor in our foreign relations,” Haley’s office, known as the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said in a statement. “It’s not going to be the only factor, or even necessarily the
number one factor, but it will no longer be ignored.”
Trump has often credited himself with restoring America’s credibility when it issues threats by following through when U.S. adversaries cross “red lines” that he has set.
In this case, though, there were signs that Trump intended his threat, delivered in a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, more as rhetoric than policy. The warning had appeared to catch the State Department and other agencies off guard, leading them to seek more details from the White House’s National Security Council on how to proceed.
Information for this article was contributed by Carol Morello and Ruth Eglash of The Washington
Post and by Josh Lederman, Edith M. Lederer, Suzan Fraser, Matthew Lee and Joe Federman of The Associated Press.