Israel Dare U.N. Resolution

The status of the Holy City is one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel’s envoy to the United Nations vowed Thursday that his country would never be “driven” from Jerusalem as UN member states prepared to vote on rejecting Washington’s recognition of the Holy City as its capital.

“No General Assembly resolution will ever drive us from Jerusalem,” Ambassador Danny Danon told an emergency session of the 193-nation assembly.

A draft resolution rejecting the US move was sent to the General Assembly after it was vetoed by the United States at the Security Council on Monday, although all other 14 council members voted in favor.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned of reprisals ahead of a UN vote expected to reject the US decision on Jerusalem, warning “the United States will remember this day.”

“This vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN,” Haley told the UN General Assembly. KENA

Gathered in an emergency session, the General Assembly is to decide on a draft resolution reaffirming that the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations, and that any decision reached outside of that framework has no legal effect and must be rescinded.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki, addressing the assembly as the session got underway, appealed for support and referenced America’s warning that it was “taking names” among countries that oppose it at the UN.

“This organization is now undergoing an unprecedented test,” al-Malki said. ”History records names, it remembers names — the names of those who stand by what is right and the names of those who speak falsehood. Today we are seekers of rights and peace.”

Trump’s decision on December 6 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital broke with international consensus and unleashed protests across the Muslim world, prompting a flurry of appeals to the United Nations.

The status of the Holy City is one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides claiming it as their capital.

A draft resolution rejecting the US move was sent to the General Assembly after it was vetoed by the United States at the Security Council on Monday, although all other 14 council members voted in favor.

Trump warned that Washington would closely watch how nations voted on Thursday, suggesting there could be financial reprisals for countries that back the motion put forward by Yemen and Turkey on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries.

“They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us,” Trump said at the White House. ”Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”