Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned a UN vote on Thursday that rejected a US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, but expressed satisfaction at the number of countries that didn't vote for the measure.
“Israel
completely rejects this preposterous resolution. Jerusalem is our
capital, always was, always will be,” Netanyahu said in an
English-language video posted online by his spokesman.
“But
I do appreciate the fact that a growing number of countries refuse to
participate in this theatre of the absurd,” said the Israeli leader.
“Especially
I want to again express our thanks to President (Donald) Trump and
Ambassador (Nikki) Haley for their stalwart defence of Israel and their
stalwart defence of the truth.”
The motion was backed by
128 countries and opposed by nine, with Guatemala, Honduras, Togo,
Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands joining Israel and the
United States in voting against the measure.
But 35
countries abstained including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Croatia, the
Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Mexico, the Philippines, Romania and
Rwanda.
Ukraine, which supported the draft resolution at
the Security Council, was among 21 countries that did not turn up for
the vote.
Trump had warned ahead of the vote in the
193-nation assembly that “we're watching” and threatened reprisals
against countries backing the measure, which reaffirms that the status
of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations.