JERUSALEM (JTA) — The United Nations Security Council was considering a draft resolution that would rescind U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The resolution was circulated to the council Saturday, but will almost certainly be vetoed by Washington. Still, diplomats said the Egyptian-drafted text has wide support, according to the Reuters news agency.
The Security Council could vote on the one-page draft as early as next week. It insists any decisions on the status of Jerusalem have no legal effect and must be rescinded.
At the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Trump administration for supporting his country at the United Nations. He expressed “special appreciation for the determined leadership of President Trump and his administration in defending the truth of Israel, for vigorously rejecting the attempts to use the U.N. as a platform against Israel and for [their] general support,” according to his office.
Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy this month when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and began the process of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. The Palestinians and Arab and Muslim countries expressed outrage, and much of the world came out against the move. After the decision, Arab foreign ministers agreed to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution.
The text of the draft “affirms 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status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.” The resolution also calls on U.N. member states to “refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem, pursuant to resolution 478 (1980) of the Security Council.”
