The United States was forced to use its veto power Monday after the United Nations Security Council approved a measure designed to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The 14 other countries on the council, including staunch American ally, the United Kingdom, supported the resolution that was sponsored by Egypt.
“It’ll appear to be a diplomatic victory for the Palestinian Authority and those nations that oppose Trump’s decision,” said CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell.
“Likely it’s gonna go to the General Assembly, where it will likely pass, but it really has no effect on the reality here on the ground if the U.N.’s General Assembly passes it,” he continued.
The one-page text generated by Arab nations over the weekend demanded, “all states comply with Security Council resolutions regarding the Holy City of Jerusalem, and not to recognize any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions.”
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council she wasn’t going to waste time discussing all the reasons why a sovereign nation has the right and authority to decide where to locate its embassy.
A specialist on Middle Eastern affairs detailed how violence has increased since President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, notably rockets fired out of Gaza and the destruction of an underground tunnel by Israeli Defense Forces that was dug by Palestinians to aid in the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.
Although Mideast peace talks have been stalled for years now, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will no longer accept the U.S. as a mediator, using some of his harshest rhetoric since President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile praised Ambassador Haley for lighting a “candle of truth.”
In a video message, Netanyahu compared Haley to the Maccabees, Jewish warriors commemorated during the current Jewish holiday of Hanukkah for revolting against Hellenic rulers, rededicating the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and establishing a Jewish kingdom in Judea.
“One defeated the many, truth defeated lies,” Netanyahu said.
Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy earlier this month when he announced America would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that generated outrage in the Islamic world. The president says he’ll also move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
Ambassador Haley praised Trump’s decision as “the just and right thing to do.”
“There is a possibility … that other nations might follow the U.S. lead, and one Christian leader told us this could be the starting gun of a beginning of nations coming up here,” Mitchell said. “They’ve talked about the Czech Republic, the Philippines, Tanzania.”
“So we could see other nations actually breaking precedent with the United Nations and coming here to Jerusalem,” he continued. {eoa}
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