Trump Warns Countries Against Condemning Jerusalem Embassy Move At UN Vote

President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut aid to countries who vote against the U.S. at the United Nations with regards to the Trump Administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The United Nations will vote Thursday, in an emergency session, on a draft resolution that criticizes the president’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

"I like the message that Nikki sent yesterday at the United Nations," the president said at a Cabinet meeting, referring to the United States Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley’s letter of warning to most of the United Nations' 193 member states.

Haley said: "The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us. We will take note of each and every vote on this issue."

Trump confirmed the above saying, “for all of these nations that take our money and then they vote against us at the Security Council or they vote against us, potentially, at the Assembly, they take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us.”

“Well, we’re watching those votes,” the president continued. “Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care. But this isn’t like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars and nobody knows what they’re doing.”

According to the Washington Examiner, the administration has gone to great lengths to argue that the president’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital wouldn’t be counter-productive to eventual peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Trump himself, and other officials emphasized that talks resulting in a final status that allows a potential Palestinian state to make its capital in East Jerusalem are still left open.

The veteran diplomat, U.S. Ambassador and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, earlier this month told the State Department press corps: “We recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Jerusalem, but we are not changing or taking a position on the boundaries of sovereignty in Jerusalem, including geographic boundaries.”

However Palestinian officials have maintained that the move renders the U.S. a biased mediator in the talks. International and Democratic critics worry the decision will undermine the possibility of meaningful negotiations.

In a biting criticism of the U.N. General Assembly's planned vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called it “a house of lies.”

"Jerusalem is our capital, we will continue to build there and additional embassies will move to Jerusalem," Netanyahu said. "Jerusalem is our capital, we will continue to build there and additional embassies will move to Jerusalem," he added.

“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, whether or not the U.N. recognizes this. It took 70 years for the United States to formally recognize this, and it will take years for the U.N. to do the same,” he added.

Addressing the notion that countries around the world are changing their attitude toward Israel, its Prime Minister said, "and this will eventually seep into the walls of that house of lies."

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), who is the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations committee held that Arab leaders wanted the Trump administration to offer a diplomatic victory to Palestinians too along with the Jerusalem announcement.

“I take names at the United Nations when I think member states do things that are against Israel, that [are] irrational, etc,” he said Wednesday. “I think this vote should not be placed at the United Nations, I support the American position that this resolution shouldn't be passed. But the way the president handled the announcement makes it much more difficult to get the type of vote that we would like to see at the United Nations.”