UN delivers crushing blow to Trump as more than 100 countries vote against the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital

Ella Wills21 December 2017

More than 100 countries defied President Donald Trump and rejected his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The United Nations general assembly delivered a crushing blow to Mr Trump by voting in a huge majority that the United States withdraw its decision on the city.

The move came despite a threat by the US to cut off financial aid to countries that back the resolution.

Only nine countries voted against the resolution, while 128 voted in favour and some 35 abstained.

More than 100 countries voted against recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital
EPA

The UN general assembly voted to oppose any recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Thursday.

While the draft resolution did not mention the US, it said any decisions on Jerusalem should be cancelled.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump declared formal recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

But the decision was condemned and a rare emergency special session of the UN general assembly was called..

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the nation was being 'singled out for attack' on Thursday
EPA

Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, had warned that the US would remember which countries "disrespected" it in the vote.

She said on Thursday: "The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation.

"We will remember it when we are called upon to once again to make the world'€s largest contribution to the United Nations, and so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit."

She added: "When a nation is singled out for attack in this organisation, that nation is disrespected."

But members seemed undeterred by Ms Haley's speech, voting in overwhelming majority against the US.

Palestian present Mahamoud Abbas said the result was a "victory for Palestine".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in