(Newswire.net — December 22, 2017) –A rare UN General Assembly (UNGA) emergency session on Washington’s decision to proclaim Jerusalem the capital of Israel has ended by an epic failure of US lobbying for the cause.
Here are the countries that backed the United States in the vote> Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo.
The countries that abstained from voting: Antigua-Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Haiti, Hungary, Jamaica, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Trinidad-Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu.
All other countries, including major US allies such as UK, France and Germany voted against Trumps decision to proclaim Jerusalem the capital of Israel, which brought great disturbance not only in the Middle East but worldwide.
Washington remained adamant in treating Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will relocate the embassy to this city setting itself above international law. The fact that almost no one stayed on the side of the US on this matter, however, aggravated US leadership.
US representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, reminded UN member states of the generous contributions the US gave to the organization.
“When we make generous contributions to the UN, we also have a legitimate expectation that our goodwill is recognized and respected,” Haley said, adding, the vote will be “remembered” by the US and “make a difference on how the Americans look at the UN.”
The US leadership previously issued threats to UN member states which would back the UN resolution against its Jerusalem decision. Haley said Washington would be “taking names,” Russia Today reposts.
The US president Donald Trump also suggested that the US would punish disobedient countries by cutting financial support.
“Let them vote against us,” he said. “We’ll save a lot. We don’t care. But this isn’t like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars… We’re not going to be taken advantage of any longer.”
The UN members, however, sent a strong message that if the US is a great financial contributor, that doesn’t mean that it is above the International law. Washington, on the other hand, is demonstrating that International law doesn’t apply to the United States if it conflicts with its national interests.
So how dangerous is this situation?
While the whole world agrees that Trump’s move represents a major threat to world peace, little is known on the reasons why the US degraded its influence in the world instead of leading it. What is the benefit of the enormous price that the US would pay if officially recognized as the next bully of the world, constantly sparking wildfires that set Christians and Muslims on a collision path.
Jerusalem is a volcanic flashpoint as it is the convergence of three major religions, and oversees centuries of feuds as well as growing mistrust between Jews and Muslims, CGTH News reports. According to the analysis of this news agency Trump’s move is an open invitation for terrorism to come back after ISIL was driven out by coalition forces from Iraq and basically eradicated from Syria.
“Terrorists may come back. The online hate speech may fuel the political Islamic movement and endangers stability in many European countries and in the Middle East. That is why an embattled EU has to be very cautious and some of its core member states such as France, Italy and Britain have openly opposed Trump’s decision,“ the CTGN News article reads.
While many believe that the decision is Trump’s way to honor campaign pledges and please Christian evangelicals and to prove the value of his word after his rating has severely dropped, global politics analysts believe that President Trump himself couldn’t care less referring to some “higher national security interests“ that are not clear even to the US’s most loyal allies.