The United Nations body’s debate and vote highlighted for a second time in a week the international isolation of the United States over the Jerusalem issue 
 
 The United Nations general assembly has delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump, voting by a huge majority to reject his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. 
 
 The vote came after a redoubling of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would remember which countries “disrespected” America by voting against it. 
 
 
 
 Despite the warning, 128 members voted on Thursday in favour of the resolution supporting the longstanding international consensus that the status of Jerusalem – which is claimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinians – can only be settled as an agreed final issue in a peace deal. Countries which voted for the resolution included major recipients of US aid such as Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq. 
 
 
 
 Although largely symbolic, the vote in emergency session of the world body had been the focus of days of furious diplomacy by both the Trump administration and Israel, including Trump’s threat to cut US funding to countries that did not back the US recognition. 
 
 But only nine states – including the United States and Israel –voted against the resolution. The other countries which supported Washington were Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, Guatemala and Honduras. 
 
 Play Video 1:03 'We will remember this’: US slams UN Jerusalem vote – video 
 
 Twenty-two of the 28 EU countries voted for the resolution, including the UK and France. Germany – which in the past has abstained on measures relating to Israel – also voted in favour. 
 
 Thirty-five countries abstained, including five EU states, and other US allies including Australia, Canada, Colombia and Mexico. Ambassadors from several abstaining countries, including Mexico, used their time on the podium to criticise Trump’s unilateral move. 
 
 Another 21 delegations were absent from the vote, suggesting the Trump’s warning over funding cuts and Israel’s lobbying may have had some effect. 
 
 While support for the resolution was somewhat less than Palestinian officials had hoped, the meagre tally of just nine votes in support of the US and Israeli position was a serious diplomatic blow for Trump. 
 
 
 
 Immediately after the vote the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, described the result as a “victory for Palestine”. The Palestinians’ UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, described the result as a “massive setback” for the US. 
 
 “They made it about them,” Mansour told AFP. “They did not make it about Jerusalem, so when you make it about them and to only be able to get nine votes to say ‘no’ to it, I think it was a complete failure for their campaign.” 
 
 Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected the UN vote out of hand. 
 
 
 
 “Israel thanks President Trump for his unequivocal position in favour of Jerusalem and thanks the countries that voted together with Israel, together with the truth,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office. 
 
 
 
 Trump threatens to cut aid to countries over UN Jerusalem vote Read more 
 
 Speaking to the assembly before the vote, Haley – who earlier in the week told members that the US “would be taking names” – returned to the offensive. 
 
 
 
 “I must also say today: when we make generous contributions to the UN, we also have expectation that we will be respected,” she said. “What’s more, we are being asked to pay for the dubious privileges of being disrespected.” 
 
 Haley added: “If our investment fails, we have an obligation to spend our investment in other ways … The United States will remember this day.” 
 
 
 
 Q&A Why is recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital so contentious? Show Hide Of all the issues at the heart of the enduring conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, none is as sensitive as the status of Jerusalem. The holy city has been at the centre of peace-making efforts for decades. Seventy years ago, when the UN voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, Jerusalem was defined as a separate entity under international supervision. In the war of 1948 it was divided, like Berlin in the cold war, into western and eastern sectors under Israeli and Jordanian control respectively. Nineteen years later, in June 1967, Israel captured the eastern side, expanded the city’s boundaries and annexed it – an act that was never recognised internationally. Israel routinely describes the city, with its Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy places, as its “united and eternal” capital. For their part, the Palestinians say East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future independent Palestinian state. The unequivocal international view, accepted by all previous US administrations, is that the city’s status must be addressed in peace negotiations. Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital puts the US out of step with the rest of the world, and legitimises Israeli settlement-building in the east – considered illegal under international law. Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP 
 
 In his own speech Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said UN members who backed the resolution were being manipulated. “You are like puppets pulled by your Palestinian masters,” he told the session. 
 
 While Thursday’s resolution was in support of existing UN resolutions on Jerusalem and the peace process, the clumsy intervention by Trump and Haley also made the vote a referendum on Trump’s often unilateral and abrasive foreign policy. 
 
 The debate and vote highlighted for a second time in a week the international isolation of the United States over the Jerusalem issue, following a similar vote in the security council on Tuesday in which it was outnumbered 14-1. 
 
 
 
 Trump's bullying and bluster on Jerusalem is bad news for the UN | Patrick Wintour Read more 
 
 The threatening US posture, which had been denounced as both counter-productive and “bullying”, only seemed to have hardened the resolve of countries in opposing Trump’s 6 December move. 
 
 The resolution, co-sponsored by Turkey and Yemen, called Trump’s recognition “null and void” and reaffirmed 10 security council resolutions on Jerusalem, dating back to 1967, including requirements that the city’s final status must be decided in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. 
 
 It also “demands that all states comply with security council resolutions regarding the holy city of Jerusalem, and not to recognise any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions”. 
 
 Earlier on Thursday, as it had become clear that the US and Israel would be heavily defeated, Netanyahu preemptively denounced the vote calling the UN a “house of lies”. 
 
 “The state of Israel rejects this vote outright,” Netanyahu said. “Jerusalem is our capital, we will continue to build there and additional embassies will move to Jerusalem. 
 
 “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, whether or not the UN recognises this. It took 70 years for the United States to formally recognise this, and it will take years for the UN to do the same.” 
 
 Michael Oren, Israel’s deputy minister for diplomacy, called for Israel to cut its ties with the UN and expel the organisation from its Jerusalem offices. 
 
 “We must evict the UN from the scenic Governor’s House, where its bloated staff does nothing, and give this historic site to a school, a hospital or – best yet – a new US embassy.” ||||| People gather at the General Assembly, prior to a vote, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, at United Nations headquarters. President Donald Trump's threat to cut off U.S. funding to countries that oppose his decision... (Associated Press) 
 
 People gather at the General Assembly, prior to a vote, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, at United Nations headquarters. President Donald Trump's threat to cut off U.S. funding to countries that oppose his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has raised the stakes in Thursday's U.N. vote and... (Associated Press) 
 
 UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Latest on the U.N. vote on Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and related developments (all times local): 
 
 2:30 p.m. 
 
 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he expects President Donald Trump's administration to rescind its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital following a U.N. vote approving a resolution rejecting the U.S. move. 
 
 In a message posted on Twitter, Erdogan says he welcomes the overwhelming support given to the "historic" resolution. 
 
 Erdogan says: "We expect the Trump administration to rescind without further delay its unfortunate decision, whose illegality has been clearly established by (the U.N. General Assembly)." 
 
 The General Assembly voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions in favor of the resolution. 
 
 ___ 
 
 2 p.m. 
 
 The Islamic militant group Hamas is welcoming a U.N. General Assembly resolution calling the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "null and void." 
 
 In a statement, spokesman Fawzi Barhoum calls the resolution "a step in the right direction" and "a blow to (President Donald) Trump's announcement." He says the resolution emphasizes "the Palestinian right to the holy city." 
 
 Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, seeks a state in all of historic Palestine, including what is now Israel. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority, under President Mahmoud Abbas, claims Gaza and the West Bank as part of a future Palestinian state, with east Jerusalem as capital. 
 
 Israel views Jerusalem as its undivided capital. 
 
 The General Assembly voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions in favor of the non-binding resolution. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:25 p.m. 
 
 An aide to the Palestinian president is thanking countries that voted in favor of a U.N. resolution countering the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "despite all the pressure exerted on them." 
 
 Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, appeared to be referring to a threat by President Donald Trump to cut off U.S. funding to countries that support the resolution, which called Trump's Jerusalem recognition "null and void." 
 
 Abu Rdeneh says in a statement Thursday to the official Wafa news agency that the vote reflects the support the Palestinians enjoy in the international community. He says the Palestinians will continue their efforts in international forums to help create a Palestinian state. 
 
 The U.N. General Assembly voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions in favor of the resolution, a smaller margin than the Palestinians hoped for, likely reflecting U.S. threats to cut funding for those who voted "yes." 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:15 p.m. 
 
 Israel's prime minister says he completely rejects the "preposterous" U.N. resolution declaring the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital as "null and void." 
 
 Benjamin Netanyahu says in a video posted to Facebook that Jerusalem "always was, always will be" Israel's capital. He also says he appreciates that "a growing number of countries refuse to participate in this theater of the absurd." 
 
 Netanyahu is thanking President Donald Trump for his "stalwart defense of Israel." 
 
 Trump's declaration on Dec. 6 departed from decades of U.S. policy, and international consensus, that the fate of Jerusalem should be decided through negotiations. 
 
 Jerusalem lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the city as its undivided capital. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, home to key Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy sites, as their capital. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:35 p.m. 
 
 The U.N. General Assembly has voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions to declare President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "null and void." 
 
 Thursday's vote, while a victory for the Palestinians, was significantly lower than its supporters had hoped for, with many forecasting at least 150 "yes" votes. It is noteworthy that 21 countries were absent. 
 
 In that sense, it was a victory for the United States, with Trump's threat to cut off U.S. funding to countries that oppose his decision having an impact. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:20 a.m. 
 
 U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley is threatening the 193 U.N. member states and the United Nations with funding cuts if the U.N. General Assembly approves a resolution calling President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "null and void." 
 
 Haley tells an emergency meeting of the assembly that "no vote in the United Nations will make any difference" on the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which will go ahead because "it is the right thing to do." 
 
 She says "the United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very right of exercising our right as a sovereign nation." 
 
 "We will remember it when we are called upon once again to make the world's largest contribution to the United Nations," she says. "And we will remember 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." 
 
 Haley says Thursday's vote "will make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the U.N., and this vote will be remembered." 
 
 ___ 
 
 11 a.m. 
 
 Yemen's U.N. ambassador is introducing the U.N. resolution calling the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital "null and void" and urging all "peace-loving countries" to vote in favor of it. 
 
 Ambassador Khaled Hussein Mohamed Alyemany calls President Donald Trump's action "a blatant violation of the rights of the Palestinian people and the Arab nations, and all Muslims and Christians of the world." 
 
 Alyemany, speaking as chair of the Arab Group at the U.N., is the first speaker at an emergency meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. 
 
 He says the U.S. decision "is considered a dangerous violation and breach of international law." 
 
 Alyemany says it threatens peace in the world, undermines any chance for peace in the Mideast "and only serves to fan the fires of violence and extremism." 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:35 a.m. 
 
 Turkey's president has heavily criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for threatening to cut off U.S. funding to countries that oppose his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. 
 
 Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he hopes the United States will be "taught a lesson" during a United Nations vote on the issue. 
 
 Speaking at a cultural awards ceremony in Ankara on Thursday, Erdogan accused Trump of seeking countries whose "decisions can be bought with dollars." 
 
 Erdogan says: "Mr Trump, you cannot buy Turkey's democratic will with your dollars. Our decision is clear." 
 
 He adds: "I call on the whole world: Don't you dare sell your democratic struggle and your will for petty dollars." 
 
 Erdogan has been among the most vocal critics of Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem. 
 
 The resolution being voted on Thursday is co-sponsored by Turkey, chair of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Yemen, chair of the Arab Group at the U.N. 
 
 ___ 
 
 5:45 a.m. 
 
 Israel's prime minister is blasting the United Nations as a "house of lies" ahead of a vote to reject President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. 
 
 Acknowledging that the resolution will likely pass by a wide margin, Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel "completely rejects this vote before it is made." 
 
 Trump's declaration on Dec. 6 departed from decades of U.S. policy, and international consensus, that the fate of Jerusalem should be decided through negotiations. Netanyahu says Jerusalem is Israel's capital regardless of the outcome of Thursday's vote. 
 
 The Palestinians turned to the General Assembly after the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on Trump to rescind his decision. 
 
 The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, home to key Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy sites, as their capital. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1 a.m. 
 
 President Donald Trump's threat to cut off U.S. funding to countries that oppose his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has raised the stakes in Thursday's U.N. vote and sparked criticism at his tactics, which one Muslim group called bullying or blackmail. 
 
 Trump went a step further than U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley who hinted in a tweet and a letter to most of the 193 U.N. member states on Tuesday that the U.S. would retaliate against countries that vote in favor of a General Assembly resolution calling on the president to rescind his decision. 
 
 Haley says the president asked her to report back on countries "who voted against us" — and she stressed that the United States "will be taking names." ||||| American threats to cut off aid to countries voting in favor of a General Assembly resolution condemning the US for deciding to move its embassy to Jerusalem did not move the needle too far inside the world body, as the measure passed handily on Thursday by a vote of 128 against nine, with 35 abstentions and 21 countries not voting. 
 
 
 
 The vote – a symbolic act unlikely to change any facts on the ground or politics in foreign capitals – was elevated in importance after US President Donald Trump said he would take the tally personally, and that the votes of states would be remembered as Washington considers further aid to the international body. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly responded to the vote, saying that “Israel completely rejects this preposterous resolution.”“Jerusalem is our capital, always was, always will be,” he said. “But I do appreciate the fact that a growing number of countries refuse to participate in this theater of the absurd.”He said he wanted to especially thank Trump and ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley for “their stalwart defense of Israel, and their stalwart defense of the truth.”The Palestinians, on the other hand, applauded the results. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said the vote is a “victory for Palestine.”“We will continue our efforts in the United Nations and at all international forums to put an end to this occupation and to establish our Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.The results of this vote were not significantly different than results of two other special votes in the General Assembly regarding the conflict over the last five years.In 2012, the Palestinians gained non-member observer status as a state by a vote of 138 to nine, with 41 abstentions and five no-shows. And a 2015 measure giving them the right to fly their flag at the UN passed 119 to eight, with 45 abstentions, and 21 countries not participating.Before Thursday’s vote, US ambassador Nikki Haley told the world body that its hostility toward Israel is “wrong [and] undermines the credibility of this institution, and that in turn is harmful for the entire world.”Haley said that Israel remains in the UN, despite the organization’s hostility, because “it’s important to stand up for yourself. Israel must stand up for its own survival as a nation, but it also stands up for the ideals of freedom and human dignity that the United Nations is supposed to be about.”Reiterating threats to remember who voted against the US, Haley said her country “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. 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.”America, she declared, “will put [its] embassy in Jerusalem. That is what the American people want us to do, and it is the right thing to do. No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that. But this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN. And this vote will be remembered.”Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of the world’s body adopted the resolution declaring – without mentioning the US by name – the decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as “null and void and [that it] must be rescinded.”Twenty-two of the 28 EU countries voted for the resolution, including Germany, which in the past has abstained on measures attacking Israel. Greece and Cyprus, with whom Israel has an alliance in the eastern Mediterranean and which abstained in the 2015 vote on the Palestinian flag issue, also voted for the measure.Five EU countries, however, broke with the EU consensus and abstained: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Romania. Lithuania did not show up for the vote.The vote showed that Israel has made inroads in Latin America, as Argentina, Mexico and Colombia – all countries that Netanyahu visited in September – abstained.Notably, India, with whom Israel has forged very strong ties and where Netanyahu will be traveling next month, voted for the measure.In addition to the US and Israel, the other countries that voted against the measure were Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo.Israel’s ambassador Danny Danon said before the vote: “Those who support today’s resolution are like puppets. You are puppets pulled by the strings of your Palestinian puppet masters. You are like marionettes forced to dance while the Palestinian leadership looks on with glee. You are blind to the lies. Unaware of the manipulation surrounding you – just like a puppet.”This vote, he said, “is nothing more than a performance of delusion.”Holding up a coin from around the year 67 with the Hebrew inscription “Freedom of Zion,” he said that this “proves the ancient connection of Jews to Jerusalem.”Danon continued, “Our bond to Jerusalem is unbreakable. No UNESCO declaration, no empty speeches, no General Assembly resolution will ever drive us from Jerusalem.”Though comments made over the last two days by Trump and Haley saying that the US would take note of how each country votes – as well as vigorous Israeli diplomatic efforts – did little to alter the outcome that was foreseen from the start, it did impact the number of countries asking to make a statement before the vote.Part of Israel’s efforts over the last two days was to keep western, Democratic countries from making such statements, and in that Jerusalem was successful. In addition to the Palestinian Authority, the other countries which spoke and slammed Israel with varying degrees of vitriol were Yemen, Turkey, Venezuela, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Maldives, Syria, Bangladesh, Cuba, Iran, China, Malaysia and North Korea.The representative of the Vatican also spoke, and essentially called for the internationalization of Jerusalem.“The Holy See calls for peaceful resolution that respects the nature of Jerusalem, its sacredness and universal value, and reiterates that only an international guaranteed status can preserve its unique character and be an assurance for dialogue and reconciliation for peace in the region.”Even before the vote, Netanyahu called the UN a “House of Lies,” and predicted that eventually all the embassies will move to Jerusalem because “truth will win out.” 
 
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 ||||| The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday defied warnings from the United States and overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and calling on countries not to move their diplomatic missions to the city. 
 
 A total of 128 countries voted in favor of the text, defying President Donald Trump’s threat — forcefully reiterated in an address before the vote by US envoy Nikki Haley — to cut aid to countries that opposed the motion. 
 
 Nine countries — the US, Israel, Togo, Micronesia, Guatemala, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands and Honduras — voted against the resolution. 
 
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 There were 35 abstentions, including a number of countries that had been widely expected to support the move, such as Colombia, Mexico, Malawi and Rwanda. A further 21 countries did not vote at all. 
 
 By abstaining, Hungary, Croatia, Latvia, Romania and the Czech Republic broke European Union consensus on the vote. The EU had previously vehemently rejected any attempt to change Jerusalem’s status in the absence of a final peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. 
 
 Haley tweeted after the vote that “65 countries refused to condemn the United States” — totaling the no votes, the abstentions and the no-shows. 
 
 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in a video, that “Israel completely rejects this preposterous resolution. Jerusalem is our capital — always was, always will be.” However, he added, “I do appreciate the fact that a growing number of countries refuse to participate in this theater of the absurd.” He thanked Trump and Haley for their “stalwart defense” of Israel and the truth. 
 
 Posted by The Prime Minister of Israel on Thursday, 21 December 2017 
 
 Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the number of countries that either opposed, abstained or were absent from the vote was “hugely significant.” The vote shows that “not the whole world is part of this show,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon said. 
 
 A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said “The vote is a victory for Palestine,” and promised that the Palestinians would “continue our efforts in the United Nations and at all international forums to put an end to this occupation and to establish our Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.” 
 
 On Monday, in the Security Council, 14 out of 15 members voted in favor of the resolution, which failed to pass due to an American veto. There are no vetoes at the General Assembly, but — as opposed to the Security Council — resolutions passed there are not legally binding. 
 
 In November 2012, 138 countries voted on favor of a General Assembly resolution giving nonmember state status to the “State of Palestine.” Nine countries opposed the motion, with 41 abstentions. Less than a month ago, 151 countries voted in favor of a General Assembly resolution that condemns Israel in much harsher terms than Thursday’s vote. Only six countries opposed the motion, while nine abstained. 
 
 Recalling previous General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, the text passed Thursday expressed “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem,” referring to Trump’s December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his announced intention to move the US embassy to the city. 
 
 The resolution also affirmed that “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 in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council, and in this regard, calls upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem.” 
 
 Without naming any country, it expressed “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem.” 
 
 Before the vote, a series of officials addressed the “emergency special session” on “[i]llegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The session was called by Yemen and Turkey. 
 
 The US ambassador to the UN, Haley, defended the administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, said the US had the sovereign right to place its embassies where it wished, and warned that America — the biggest funder of the UN — did not take kindly to being disrespected and paying for the “dubious privilege.” 
 
 “The decision does not prejudge any final status issues, including Jerusalem’s boundaries. The decision does not preclude a two-state solution, if the parties agree to that,” she said. “The decision does nothing to harm peace efforts. Rather, the president’s decision reflects the will of the American people and our right as a nation to choose the location of our embassy.” 
 
 “America will put our embassy to Jerusalem,” Haley stressed. “That’s what the American people want us to do. And it’s the right thing to do.” No vote at the UN will make any difference on the American decision, she declared. But this vote will be remembered, she vowed, when America is being asked once again to make the single-largest contribution to the UN budget or 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.” 
 
 “Those who support today’s resolution are like puppets pulled by the strings of the Palestinian puppet masters,” Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said. “You are like marionettes forced to dance while the Palestinian leadership looks on with glee.” 
 
 Passing the resolution distances the prospects for peace, Danon added. “If you vote for it, you’re rejecting peace,” he said, adding that he had no doubt that this resolution will end up “in the trash bin of history.” 
 
 During his speech, Danon displayed a coin from 67 AD minted during the Jewish revolt against the Romans, replicas of which had been distributed to the UN ambassadors before the vote. “On this coin is written ‘Freedom of Zion.’ It proves the ancient connection of Jews to Jerusalem,” Danon said. “No UNESCO declaration, no empty speeches, no General Assembly resolution will ever drive us from Jerusalem.” 
 
 Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki attacked the US recognition of Jerusalem as an act of “aggression.” Palestine accepts the US’s right to make sovereign decisions, but only as long they are in line with international law, he said. 
 
 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu called Trump’s Jerusalem recognition a violation of international law and an “attack on all universal values.” 
 
 He said that a member state had threatened all the other members to vote no or “face the consequences,” likely referring to the US. Countries were threatened with development aid cut, he went on. “This is bullying and this chamber will not do that. It is unethical to think the votes and dignity are for sale. … We will not be intimidated. You may be strong, but that does not make you right.” 
 
 Israeli officials had rejected the vote’s outcome before it took place. 
 
 “The State of Israel flatly rejects this vote even before it is held,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier on Thursday. “Jerusalem is our capital. We will continue to build in it and foreign embassies, led by the US embassy, will move to Jerusalem. It will happen.” 
 
 In the run-up to Thursday’s vote, Israeli diplomats stationed abroad made strenuous efforts to get as many countries as possible to oppose or abstain on the resolution. 
 
 “The Foreign Ministry is continuing its efforts to persuade as many countries as possible not to support the resolution, including by avoiding the vote,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said hours before the vote. 
 
 “It is an effort stretching across the globe, in every continent,” he said. “Special effort is being made in Europe, in the hope of preventing a European consensus supporting the resolution.” 
 
 On Wednesday, Trump had praised Haley for warning foreign diplomats that she will be “taking names” of countries that support the resolution criticizing America’s position on Jerusalem. 
 
 “I like the message that Nikki sent yesterday at the United Nations 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,” the president told members of his cabinet in the White House. 
 
 “They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us,” he said. “Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us, we’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”
– "The US will be taking names," Nikki Haley warned Wednesday ahead of the UN General Assembly's Thursday vote on whether to reject President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It has a lot of names to take: The vote was 128-9 in favor of the nonbinding resolution that demands the US walk back its Dec. 6 declaration. The vote "amount[s] to a collective act of defiance toward Washington," the New York Times reports. The AP reports Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted by tweeting, "We expect the Trump administration to rescind without further delay its unfortunate decision, whose illegality has been clearly established." How the vote went: There were 35 abstentions and 21 no-shows; one of the abstentions was Canada, which the Guardian reports had been thought to be a vote on the US side. Voting along with the US and Israel were Togo, Micronesia, Guatemala, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, and Honduras, reports the Times of Israel. The Jerusalem Post sees the final tally as demonstrating Israel "has made inroads in Latin America"; it points out both Argentina and Mexico abstained.