Countries that said no to US, Israel at United Nations General Assembly represented 90.5% of world population

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had threatened countries not to vote against the United States at the United Nations (UN) on Palestine. Above, a tense Haley is seen listening during a Security Council meeting on the issue. (Photo by AFP)

The countries that recently voted against the United States and Israel at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) represented more than 90 percent of the world’s population, signifying how heavily world opinion is balanced against Washington and Tel Aviv on the Palestinian issue.

On December 6, Trump declared that Washington would be recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and that he had instructed his administration to begin the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.

The UNGA on Thursday approved a resolution that described that decision by Trump as “null and void.”

Despite a campaign of bullying against potential opponents by Washington, 128 countries voted in favor of the resolution, nine opposed it, and 35 abstained.

A simple new calculation considering not just the votes at the UNGA but also the population size of the voter countries revealed the massive opposition that exists in the world against the US’s decision on Jerusalem al-Quds.

By a simple count, 90.5 percent of the world’s population voted to rebuke the US, nine percent abstained, and only 0.5 backed the US position.

The administration of US President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to the countries that supported the document.

The Thursday vote highlighted for a second time in a week the depth of the US isolation in the international arena over the issue of Jerusalem al-Quds, following a similar vote in the Security Council in which Washington was outnumbered 14-1 but used its veto power to obstruct the measure.

The Thursday vote at the Assembly, where the US had no veto power, was a strong rebuke of the Trump administration’s policies and marked a failure of what was seen as its bullying of other states.

Israel lays claim to the whole Jerusalem al-Quds, but the international community views the ancient city’s eastern sector as occupied land and the Palestinians consider it their future capital.