US threatens to cut 'billions of dollars' of aid to UN countries over Jerusalem vote

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to withhold billions of dollars in aid from the countries that vote against Washington’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital.

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly will hold a rare emergency special session on Thursday to vote on a draft resolution that was vetoed by the United States in the UN Security Council on Monday.

The Egyptian-drafted resolution expressed “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem” but did not name the Donald Trump administration. The United States was the only country in the 15-member



council to veto it. A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.

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

US Ambassador Nikki Haley reportedly wrote to many UN states on Tuesday and told them that Trump had asked her to “report back on those countries who voted against us”. On Twitter, she wrote, “The US will be taking names.”