U.S. blocks UN vote calling for Trump to rescind Jerusalem decision

UNITED NATIONS – The United States vetoed a Security Council resolution on Jerusalem on Monday that called on all states to refrain from establishing embassies in the city.

The resolution, submitted by Egypt, criticized decisions that seek to alter “the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem” and called for them to be rescinded, but stopped short of naming President Donald Trump and the U.S. explicitly.

Trump earlier this month said the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would begin work to move its embassy there from Tel Aviv.

The vote came shortly before Vice President Mike Pence canceled a planned visit to Egypt and Israel this week, which will now take place in January.

Officials said Pence was staying for a key Senate vote on tax reform. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had said he would not meet with Pence after Trump’s decision.

The U.S. was alone in voting against Monday’s draft resolution at the Security Council, with the 14 other member countries voting in favor, including France and Britain, which are generally closely aligned with the U.S.

Nine votes in favor plus the support of all five veto-wielding members of the council were needed to pass the resolution.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley called the outcome “an insult” and said “it won’t be forgotten.”

The rare use of the U.S. veto to block the vote was not an embarrassment, Haley said, but should embarrass the other council members.

Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a sovereign decision and “fully in line” with previous Security Council resolutions, Haley added. The U.S. rejected the “outrageous claim” that they were setting back the peace process.

The U.S. “recognition of the obvious” that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel was “too much for some,” Haley said.

British U.N. ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the resolution chimed with the Security Council’s previously agreed view of the status of Jerusalem.

“We now strongly encourage the U.S. administration to bring forward detailed proposals for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement,” Rycroft said after the vote.

Briefing the Security Council ahead of the vote, Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N. special coordinator for Middle East peace, said escalations in violence in the region could not be divorced from unilateral actions that undermined the peace process.

Ahead of the vote, Haley said the Security Council was putting peace out of reach by “injecting itself” into the conflict and passing judgment on issues that should be decided by direct negotiation between the parties.

Passing Security Council resolutions, such as one last December condemning Israeli settlements, “only sets back the cause of peace.”

The U.S. abstained in that vote, allowing it to pass, but would on Monday block it with their veto, Haley said.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters that bringing the issue to the Security Council or U.N. General Assembly was a “waste of time” and the only way to move forward was through direct negotiations.

The U.S. was working “tirelessly” to facilitate negotiations, Danon said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Haley and Trump in a Facebook video, saying: “You lit a candle of truth. You dispel the darkness,” in a reference to the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which is currently taking place.

A spokesman for Abbas condemned the U.S. veto, in comments carried by the Wafa agency.

The U.S. stance “stands against the international consensus, contravenes the resolutions of international community and Security Council resolutions and represents a complete bias with the occupation and aggression,” spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

The Palestinian delegation to the U.N. is now instead seeking a vote in the 193-member General Assembly on the U.S. decision on Jerusalem.

The resolution will remain largely the same but will be customized to fit the General Assembly format, Palestinian ambassador Riyad H Mansour told reporters.

To pass in the General Assembly, the resolution would likely need a two-thirds majority as it would be considered an issue of peace and security.