In a rebuke of President Donald Trump, the UN General Assembly began debate Thursday on a resolution reaffirming that the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations and that any decision by the U.S. or others before then has no legal standing.
The General Assembly is expected to vote overwhelmingly in support of the resolution, which came after Trump announced Dec. 6 that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and would move its embassy there from Tel Aviv. That decision prompted criticism across the Middle East and from key U.S. allies in Europe.
The original UN resolution had 14 votes in favor on the 15-member Security Council last week, prompting U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley to exercise the first U.S. veto since 2011. That led Palestinian officials to arrange for the measure to be taken up in a rare emergency session of the 193-member General Assembly.
Palestinian officials said Trump’s decision disqualified the U.S. from being a mediator in any Israel-Palestinian negotiations. Trump and Haley have suggested that U.S. funding for the UN or for other countries could be at risk in the vote.
Except for Israel, which will support the U.S. position, most major U.S. allies opposed to Trump’s decision are staying away from the podium at the Thursday debate. Countries expected to speak in support of the measure include Yemen, Turkey, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Syria, Iran, Ecuador, China and Saudi Arabia.
Haley earlier this week warned other countries against supporting the resolution, saying “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.”
Trump weighed in on the Jerusalem vote on Wednesday.
“I liked the message that Nikki sent yesterday at the United Nations to all of those nations that take our money and then they vote against us in the Security Council, they vote against us potentially at the assembly,” Trump said. “They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us. Well we’re watching those votes. Let ’em vote against us.”