U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will hold a reception for the ambassadors of countries who did not support a U.N. General Assembly vote condemning the U.S. for its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The invitation to the Jan. 3 reception, a copy of which was obtained by Breitbart News, was sent to the 65 countries who either rejected, abstained from, or declined to vote on the resolution that censured the U.S. for President Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
“The Honorable Nikki R. Haley … invites you to a reception to thank you for your friendship to the United States,” the invite for the Jan. 3 reception says.
The nonbinding resolution, which passed 128-9, expressed “deep regret” at the call made by President Trump, and calls on “all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem.” 35 countries abstained and 21 countries did not turn up to vote.
The resolution was sponsored by Turkey and Yemen and came days after the U.S. vetoed a similar resolution at the Security Council. Haley took to the General Assembly floor to blast the U.N. over the vote and to warn countries that the vote “will be remembered.”
“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,” she warned.
President Trump on Wednesday warned that the U.S intended to pull money from “nations that take our money and vote against us.”
“They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars then vote against us, well we’re watching those votes,” he said. “Let them vote against us; we’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”
The reception will likely be seen as symbolic of the Trump administration’s intent to keep note of who is and who is not supporting the U.S. agenda at the U.N.
The aggressive stance over the resolution by the U.S., particularly the funding threat, sparked anger from some diplomats.
“We were all asked to vote “no” or face the consequences. Some were even threatened with [a] development aid cut. Such an attitude is unacceptable,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said during the debate on Thursday. “This is bullying and this chamber will not vote to do that.”
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.
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