By Hakan Copur
WASHINGTON
With the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution rejecting the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by a 128-to-9 vote, member countries continue to react against the U.S.’s threat of cutting financial aid to those who would vote in favor.
The permanent representatives of Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cuba, Venezuela as well as Malaysia described the U.S. decision on Jerusalem as "unacceptable" while other representatives noted the U.S. was "trying to buy off member states' votes.”
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's remarks just before the vote received strong support at the General Assembly. Cavusoglu called the U.S. threats to cut development aids "unacceptable” and “immoral.”
“It is immoral to think that the votes of member states could be bought. We will not be intimidated. You can be strong, but this doesn’t make you right," the Turkish foreign minister said.
Venezuela's permanent representative at the UN Samuel Moncada called on the U.S. to put an end to its provocations at the UN. “The world is not for sale,” he retorted.
"Rest of the world is laughing at us"
The vote at the General Assembly received considerable coverage from U.S. media outlets. The New York Times, for example, used the following heading for its coverage of the vote: "Defying Trump, U.N. General Assembly Condemns U.S. Decree on Jerusalem."
The NYT article underlined that the U.S. administration's threat "to cut financial aid" did not pay off and noted that the majority of traditional U.S. allies had united against Trump.
An article titled "U.N. resoundingly rejects U.S. decision on Jerusalem in pointed rebuke,", which The Washington Post ran, also drew attention to the threats hurled by Trump and Nikki Haley, the U.S. permanent representative at the UN.
A number of notable U.S. figures also voiced their criticisms of the official U.S. stance on the Jerusalem vote.
John Brennan, the former CIA Director, said in his Twitter account: "Trump Admin threat to retaliate against nations that exercise sovereign right in UN to oppose US position on Jerusalem is beyond outrageous. Shows Trump expects blind loyalty and subservience from everyone—qualities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful autocrats."
Brennan's remarks received a large number of “likes” immediately and were widely shared on the social media.
Phil Mudd, a former analyst at the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, appeared on CNN late Thursday night, where he strongly criticized the Trump administration, saying, "I think the rest of the world is laughing at us... 128 countries said we’re a bunch of idiots."
Aside from the UN member states' reactions, representatives of American Muslim communities also directed their strong criticisms at the U.S. administration.
Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Nihad Awad issued a written statement, where he said the Trump administration received a "diplomacy lesson" at the UN General Assembly and a strong alliance against him had emerged in favor of the Palestinian cause.
Awad said the threats "to cut financial aids" were a wrong step and stated they were glad to see it did not succeed.
of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) Oussama Jammal told Anadolu Agency that the UN’s adoption of the resolution on Jerusalem was "promising" for peace in the Middle East.
"We are also glad to see U.S. threats did not succeed. We hope that the U.S. revokes its decision and listens to what the rest of the world has to say," he added.
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted the resolution that rejected the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, calling on the Trump administration to reverse its move.
A total of 128 members voted in favor of the Jerusalem resolution, nine countries voted against and 35 others abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote.
U.S. President Trump threatened to cut aid to countries who voted in favor of the Jerusalem resolution on Wednesday.
At the White House, 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 them vote against us. 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,” he added.
International law views the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- as “occupied territory” and considers all Jewish settlements there to be illegal.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem might eventually serve as the capital of an independent state.
