US threatens to cut aid to countries that oppose Jerusalem as Israel's capital

US President Donald Trump on December 20 threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that vote in favor of a draft UN resolution against Mr. Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Speaking to the press at the White House, President Donald Trump announced that if United Nations members vote against his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the US will cut billions of dollars in aid to these countries.

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Getty

The United Nations General Assembly will convene a special emergency session on December 21 at the request of Arab and Muslim countries to discuss the US President's decision.

The vote came after an Egyptian-drafted resolution calling on the United States to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital submitted to the Security Council earlier failed to pass.

After the US vetoed a draft resolution on the Jerusalem issue on December 18, Türkiye and Yemen, on behalf of the Arab group and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), introduced a draft resolution reaffirming that any decision on the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be revoked.

Like the draft resolution submitted by Egypt to the Security Council earlier, the Yemeni and Turkish texts do not directly mention the US President's decision but express "deep regret over recent decisions regarding the status of Jerusalem".

Under a 1950 resolution, the General Assembly can convene an emergency special session to consider a matter “with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective action” if the Security Council fails to do so. Unlike the Security Council, no country has a veto in the UN General Assembly.

Only 10 such sessions have been convened so far, the most recent of which was in 2009 to discuss East Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories. Although the General Assembly’s resolutions are not as binding as those of the Security Council, they still carry a certain political weight./.

According to VOV