[DAWN] A CLEAR majority of the global community ‐ in fact, over half of the UN’s members ‐ voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to reject the unilateral US move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.A General Assembly resolution, spearheaded by Egypt and co-sponsored by Pakistain, termed any attempts to alter the status of Jerusalem as "null and void" while calling on all states "to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City. ..."
A breakdown of the voting reflects some interesting facts. The 128 countries who favoured the resolution include Moslem states as well as the wider community of the Global South, along with most EU member states. Amongst the nine who voted against it, apart from the US and Israel, are tiny island nations and a couple of Central American states. Many other states abstained.
The tone of the US ‐ both of its president and UN ambassador ‐ before and after the vote was antagonistic and intimidating. The US threatened to cut off funding to the UN, while before the vote Mr Trump told the global community that he would be "watching those votes", adding that any country that resisted US diktat would see aid money dry up.
True, there have been many rabble-rousers on the world stage, but rarely in recent history has the leader of one of the world’s major powers issued such naked threats publicly.
While the US has a right to fashion its own foreign policy ‐ even if in the case of Jerusalem such policies fly in the face of international law and globally acknowledged facts ‐ there are ways to make one’s point, especially at a forum as august as the UN. Such blatant threats do not behove states that swear to respect democracy and the global order.