UN Security Council to discuss Jerusalem recognition

Eight members of the 15-state body requested the meeting to discuss President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

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(JTA) — The United Nations Security Council will meet to discuss the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The meeting will be held Friday at the request of eight countries that sit on the 15-member body.

France, Bolivia, Egypt, Italy, Senegal, Sweden, Britain and Uruguay requested that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres brief the council at the meeting, Reuters reported citing unnamed diplomats.

Reversing decades of American foreign policy, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and directing the State Department to start planning to move the U.S. embassy to the city. The embassy is currently in Tel Aviv.

“I have consistently spoken out against any unilateral measures that would jeopardize the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” Guterres said Wednesday following Trump’s announcement.

A Security Council resolution in December said the body would “not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.” The United States abstained from voting on that resolution, declining to use its veto power on the council and allowing the resolution to pass.

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