128 countries defy Trump, vote for UN resolution urging US to withdraw Jerusalem recognition
128 countries have voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to withdraw its decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The strong vote was taken despite a threat by US President Donald Trump to cut aid to those countries which voted against the United States.
Just nine countries backed the US and voted against the resolution and 35 abstained.
Malta, along with the rest of the EU, had condemned the US decision.
Minutes before the vote, the United States said it was "singled out for attack" at the United Nations and repeated its threat.
“The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation," US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, told the Assembly.
"We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations, and so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit,” she told the 193-member General Assembly ahead of the vote.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the UN...
