UN Overwhelmingly Rejects US Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital
"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," U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told a packed hall ahead of the vote.
"We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the United Nations, and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit," the envoy added.
"Those who support today's resolution are like puppets pulled by the strings of the Palestinian puppet masters," said Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon. "You are like marionettes forced to dance while the Palestinian leadership looks on with glee."
General Assembly vote
Thursday's emergency General Assembly session was requested by the Palestinians with the backing of Arab and non-aligned countries.
It followed a U.S. veto Monday in the Security Council on a nearly identical draft resolution, which all of the other 14 council members supported.
The General Assembly resolution reaffirms Jerusalem's special status as a holy city and as a final status issue to be resolved in future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It also says "any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded.''
Unlike Security Council resolutions, it is not legally binding, but carries moral weight, demonstrating the will of the majority of the international community. It was adopted with more than a two-thirds majority of the 172 nations that voted — 128 nations supported the measure, nine voted against it and 35 countries abstained.
The United States and Israel were joined in voting "no" by Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Togo and Palau.
More than 20 nations did not turn up for the controversial vote, including Ukraine and Georgia, which have sought U.S. help in dealing with Russian aggression against their countries.
Pressure campaign
Earlier this week, U.S. envoy Haley wrote to many U.N. member states and warned them that she would be taking names and reporting back to President Donald Trump on how nations voted, noting the president was taking the vote "personally."
"History records names, it remembers names," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the General Assembly. "The name of those who stand by what is right and the name of those who speak falsehoods. Today we are seekers of rights and peace."
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu flew in for the special session. He angrily dismissed Trump's warning that if countries voted against the United States, he might cut aid to them.
"Such an attitude is unacceptable," Cavusoglu said. "This is bullying and this chamber will not bow to that. It is unethical to think that the votes and dignity of member states are for sale. We will not be intimidated."
But U.S. lobbying ahead of the vote did persuade some countries to abstain, including neighbors Canada and Mexico.
"Mexico does not see it as positive or useful to the peace process that a unilateral declaration has taken place to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," Ambassador Juan Gomez Camacho said after the vote. "Nor, do we believe it to be useful, and we see it as disproportionate, to convene an emergency meeting of the General Assembly."
The European Union also had some members of its 28-nation bloc break with their consensus on Jerusalem, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, which all abstained.
Earlier this month, Trump said the United States considers Jerusalem the Israeli capital and started the process of moving the U.S. embassy there.
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its eternal capital, while the Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and say the United States is no longer a reliable partner in the peace process.
The Trump administration says it is committed to a two-state solution in the Middle East if that is what the parties want, and that the physical location of its embassy should have no bearing on the talks.