Friday, December 22, 2017

U.N. approves resolution overwhelmingly condemning Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital


U.N. approves resolution overwhelmingly condemning Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

By Julio Severo
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The resolution, sponsored by Turkey, chair of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, is symbolic and nonbinding.
The 128 member states of the UNGA voted to condemn Trump’s move, with just seven other states joining the U.S. and Israel in voting against the resolution. There were 35 abstentions. The overwhelming approval of the anti-Israel resolution was hailed as a victory for the Palestinians.
The vote was taken shortly after the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, issued a strong warning to states who support the resolution — reminding the UNGA of the financial aid Washington provides to both the U.N. and many member states.
“We will remember it when we are called upon once again to make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations,” she said. “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.”
Even so, major U.S. aid recipients including Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa supported the resolution. Most of these nations are Muslim. Egypt received roughly $1.4 billion in U.S. aid this year, and Jordan about $1.3 billion.
Trump has long complained that the U.S. shoulders a disproportionate share of the U.N.’s financial burden. “They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us,” he fumed.
More disappointing for the U.S. was that the resolution was sponsored by Turkey, a NATO member and a traditional Islamic ally of the U.S. in the Middle East. NATO was founded in 1949 by the U.S. as an alliance against the defunct Soviet Union.
Saudi Arabia, other strong Islamic ally of the U.S., also voted against Trump at the U.N., in spite of the fact that in his first international trip, Trump gave all preference to the Saudis, by visiting first Saudi Arabia, and leaving Israel in second place. Trump made a US$ 110 billion sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia — which the White House said that it was the “largest single arms deal in U.S. history.”
Although Democratic and Republican presidents have long affirmed that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, Trump’s declaration to move the embassy to Jerusalem on Dec. 6 was the only step to put into action decades of non-official recognition.
With his pro-Israel stance and attitude, Trump, who may be a new King Cyrus, has surpassed all Democratic and Republican presidents.
Despite the U.N.’s condemnation, the Trump administration isn’t caving to international pressure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the U.N. vote in harsh terms.
“Israel completely rejects this preposterous resolution. Jerusalem is our capital, always was, always will be,” he said in a video posted online after the resolution passed.
Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem triggered protests across the Muslim world and drew strong international condemnation, including from the Vatican, which has traditionally maintained a negative stance on Israel.
Brazil, the largest Catholic nation in the world, supported the Turkish resolution and voted against Trump and Israel. Even though Brazilian evangelicals are strongly pro-Israel, they are a minority in the population and in the government.
Key U.S. allies Britain, France, Italy, Japan and Ukraine were among the 14 countries in the 15-member U.N. Security Council that had already voted against Trump’s decision.
Trump’s courageous decision, which was influenced by his main electoral base of evangelicals, is a testament to the U.S. evangelical legacy, which is strongly pro-Israel. No other religion is closer to Israel than evangelicalism.
The United Nations, whose headquarters are in U.S. soil, was an original idea of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had not for Israel and the Jews the same sympathy he had for Saudi Arabia.
The Bible, which was divinely written firstly in Hebrew, says:
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” (Psalm 122:6a ESV)
There is no better way for peace to come than Jerusalem being recognized as the undivided and eternal capital of Israel and Jews, its legitimate owners and inhabitants, knowing Jesus as their only Messiah and Savior. Fervent prayer can achieve these two urgent results.
With information from FoxNews, DailyMail and Associated Press.
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