Yesterday, the United States threatened the world if we voted to condemn their recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. And today, the world told them to go fuck themselves:
The United Nations general assembly has delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump, voting by a huge majority to reject his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The vote came after a redoubling of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would remember which countries “disrespected” America by voting against it.
Despite the warning, 128 members voted on Thursday in favour of the resolution supporting the longstanding international consensus that the status of Jerusalem – which is claimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinians – can only be settled as an agreed final issue in a peace deal. Countries which voted for the resolution included major recipients of US aid such as Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq.
And for once, New Zealand was on the right side of history, standing up for international law and against American oppression.
The US's position was legally untenable, but the bullying approach of their president and UN ambassador won't have helped. The vote shows how small the US has become on the world stage, and to some extent, how hated it is. And while they'll scream and bluster and kick a few people like an angry drunk, it won't help. Trump has basicly burned US goodwill so that countries are no longer willing to look the other way and abstain on acts which are blatantly illegal under international law, let alone actively collaborate in them. Which doesn't bode well for the next US war of aggression...
