President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said that they will be taking the names of those who vote in favor of a controversial UN resolution that criticizes America’s decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
“At the UN we’re always asked to do more & give more. So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don’t expect those we’ve helped to target us,” Haley wrote on Twitter.
“On Thurs there'll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names,” she said.
On Monday, Haley used the U.S. veto power to prevent a similar resolution from passing in the UN Security Council. While the resolution drafted by Egypt does not call the United States by name it states a “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem.”
Earlier this month, President Trump announced that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He also announced that the United States would begin plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Trump is not the first U.S. president to have promised to do so, but while similar promises were made by Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, he is the first to have acted.
The United States has been required under law to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem since 1995 after Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act.
The 1995 act has widespread bipartisan support in Congress. The act was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote in the Senate six months ago.
Trump called out the UN countries who take money from the United States but then vote against it.
“They take hundreds of millions of dollars, and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday.
“We’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don’t care,” he said.
During his first eleven months in office, Trump has stood up for America’s interests over those of other countries and international organizations.
“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,” he said.
“People are tired of the United States—the people that live here, our great citizens that love this country—they’re tired of this country being taken advantage off, and we’re not going to be taken advantage off any longer,” he said.
