Palestinian leaders have threatened to withdraw their recognition of Israel if President-elect Donald Trump moves the US embassy to Jerusalem, according to a senior adviser to the Palestinian president.

The Palestinian authorities have also called for protests against the potential move in mosques and churches.

During his election campaign, Mr Trump vowed to relocate the US diplomatic operation to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, prompting intense criticism from both the international community and security analysts, who warned the symbolic move could spark violence.

High-ranking negotiator Mohammad Shtayyeh said such a move would be a “slap on the face of the international community” that would bring an “end to the two-state solution”, the Financial Times reported.

Mr Shtayyeh promised that the Palestinian authorities would retaliate if it went ahead saying: “One of the measures we are considering seriously [is] that the issue of mutual recognition between the The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Israel is not any more valid,” he said.

The recognition of Israel by the PLO – an umbrella group representing Palestinian political factions – was a key outcome of the Oslo peace accords signed in 1993.

Mr Shtayyeh claimed the Palestinian authorities had received warnings that Mr Trump may announce the move during his inauguration speech on 20 January from “American circles and diplomatic friends”.

Earlier on Tuesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wrote to the incoming US President claiming the proposal would have a "disastrous impact on the peace process".

One influential imam said it was as good as “a declaration of war".

Jerusalem is significant in a number of religious traditions and its status has been disputed for decades.

While Israel considers the city its capital, Palestinians claim east Jerusalem would be the capital of any future Palestinian state.

Israel annexed much of the city illegally in 1967 and it is likely to be part of any eventual peace agreement.

Mr Trump's election promises to move the embassy have been supported by his appointment of figures who are pro-Israeli settlements, including hardliner David Friedman, who will serve as the US ambassador to Israel.

Mr Friedman has previously called President Barack Obama an anti-Semite and suggested that Jewish Americans who advocate a two-state solution are "far worse" than those who policed their fellow Jews in Nazi concentration camps.

In December, senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said moving the embassy would be a "big priority” for the incoming administration. </s> The United States has pulled out of the “optional protocol” under the 1961 Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations to keep the Palestinians from suing the US government at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, US National Security Adviser John Bolton announced on Wednesday.



“This is in connection with a case brought by the so-called State of Palestine naming the United States as a defendant, challenging our move of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” he stressed.



The Vienna Convention is an international treaty setting out diplomatic relations between states. It is often cited as a means to provide diplomatic immunity.



The Palestinians argued that the US government’s placement of its embassy in Jerusalem violated an international treaty and that it should be moved.



Dr. Omar Awadallah, head of public administration for UN human rights organizations at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the PA is not surprised from the US move.





“We have reviewed all the scenarios when we decided to sue the United States for its illegal move. One of these scenarios is the withdrawal of the United States out of fear that it will be prosecuted before the most important judicial body in the United Nations,” he explained.



“This withdrawal will not change anything. It will not prevent us from continuing to sue the United States, and presumably does not affect the case,” Awadallah said.



"When the United States received the case, it was a member of the protocol, and we are convinced that justice will be served," he added.



The ICJ confirmed on Friday that it had received a complaint from the Palestinian State against the United States.



Notably, US President Donald Trump announced in September that he had decided to relocate the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and opened the embassy in May there.



Palestine demands that the court order the United States to withdraw its diplomatic mission from Jerusalem. </s> WASHINGTON: The US has decided to withdraw from the optional protocol on disputes of the Vienna Convention, National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday, citing a Palestinian lawsuit challenging America's move to shift its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the reason.

The announcement by the White House came soon after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced to terminate the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran.

Iran made a mockery of the treaty with its support for terrorism, provocative ballistic missile proliferation and malign behaviour throughout the Middle East, Bolton told reporters at a White House news conference.

"In addition to the Treaty of Amity, I am announcing that the president has decided that the United States will withdraw from the Optional Protocol and Dispute Resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," Bolton said.

"This is in connection with a case brought by the so-called state of Palestine naming the United States as a defendant, challenging our move of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem," he said.

Bolton, simultaneously underscored that the US remained a party to the underlying Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and it expects all other parties to abide by their international obligations under the convention.

The top Trump administration official insisted that the two actions were consistent with the decisions former US President Ronald Reagan made in the 1980s in the wake of the politicised suits against the US by Nicaragua to terminate its acceptance of the Optional Compulsory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under Article 36-2 of the ICJ statute, and his decision to withdraw from a bilateral treaty with Nicaragua.

"It is also consistent with the decision President Bush made in 2005 to withdraw from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations following the ICJ's interference in our domestic criminal justice system," he said.

Bolton also said the administration was reviewing all international agreements that could expose it to binding decisions by the International Court of Justice saying it was politicised and ineffective.

The US in May opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the border with Gaza where Israeli soldiers shot dead at least 52 Palestinians in clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

President Donald Trump announced the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in December, when he formally recognised the holy city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the sensitive issue. </s> The US has decided to withdraw from the optional protocol on disputes of the Vienna Convention, National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday, citing a Palestinian lawsuit challenging America’s move to shift its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the reason. The announcement by the White House came soon after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced to terminate the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran.

Iran made a mockery of the treaty with its support for terrorism, provocative ballistic missile proliferation and malign behaviour throughout the Middle East, Bolton told reporters at a White House news conference. “In addition to the Treaty of Amity, I am announcing that the president has decided that the United States will withdraw from the Optional Protocol and Dispute Resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Bolton said.

“This is in connection with a case brought by the so-called state of Palestine naming the United States as a defendant, challenging our move of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” he said. Bolton, simultaneously underscored that the US remained a party to the underlying Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and it expects all other parties to abide by their international obligations under the convention.

The top Trump administration official insisted that the two actions were consistent with the decisions former US President Ronald Reagan made in the 1980s in the wake of the politicised suits against the US by Nicaragua to terminate its acceptance of the Optional Compulsory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under Article 36-2 of the ICJ statute, and his decision to withdraw from a bilateral treaty with Nicaragua.

“It is also consistent with the decision President Bush made in 2005 to withdraw from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations following the ICJ’s interference in our domestic criminal justice system,” he said.

Bolton also said the administration was reviewing all international agreements that could expose it to binding decisions by the International Court of Justice saying it was politicised and ineffective. The US in May opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the border with Gaza where Israeli soldiers shot dead at least 52 Palestinians in clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

President Donald Trump announced the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in December, when he formally recognised the holy city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the sensitive issue. </s> Washington: The US has decided to withdraw from the optional protocol on disputes of the Vienna Convention, National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday, citing a Palestinian lawsuit challenging America's move to shift its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the reason.

The announcement by the White House came soon after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced to terminate the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran. Iran made a mockery of the treaty with its support for terrorism, provocative ballistic missile proliferation and malign behaviour throughout West Asia, Bolton told reporters at a White House news conference.

"In addition to the Treaty of Amity, I am announcing that the president has decided that the United States will withdraw from the Optional Protocol and Dispute Resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," Bolton said. "This is in connection with a case brought by the so-called state of Palestine naming the United States as a defendant, challenging the move of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem," he said.

Bolton, simultaneously underscored that the US remained a party to the underlying Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and it expects all other parties to abide by their international obligations under the convention.

The top Trump administration official insisted that the two actions were consistent with the decisions former US president Ronald Reagan made in the 1980s in the wake of the politicised suits against the US by Nicaragua to terminate its acceptance of the Optional Compulsory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under Article 36-2 of the ICJ statute, and his decision to withdraw from a bilateral treaty with Nicaragua.

"It is also consistent with the decision president Bush made in 2005 to withdraw from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations following the ICJ's interference in our domestic criminal justice system," he said. Bolton also said the administration was reviewing all international agreements that could expose it to binding decisions by the International Court of Justice saying it was politicised and ineffective.

The US in May opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by president Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the border with Gaza where Israeli soldiers shot dead at least 52 Palestinians in clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014. President Donald Trump announced the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in December, when he formally recognised the holy city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the sensitive issue. </s> Senior Palestinian officials have announced they may no longer recognise the state of Israel should Donald Trump's incoming administration move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to Mohammed Ishtayeh, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian officials were told that Trump may confirm relocation plan during his inauguration on 20 January. He quoted "American circles and diplomatic friends" as their sources.

Speaking to the press on 10 January, Ishtayeh warned this move would mark the end of US-led efforts to negotiate a two-state solution as enshrined in the UN resolution 181.

"If [Trump] does so, frankly, we think this is the end of the two-state solution," Ishtayeh said, as reported by the Associated Press. "I hope President Trump does not underestimate the importance of Jerusalem for the Palestinians, Muslims and Christians."

If the relocation was confirmed, Ishmayeh said the Palestinian leadership would consider revoking a mutual recognition deal that was signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as part of the US-brokered 1993 Oslo accords.

Abbas'd adviser also called for protests after Friday prayers across the Muslim world on 13 January. The Palestinian authorities asked churches in the region to ring their bells in protest on Sunday too, he added.

President Abbas wrote a letter to Trump on 9 January, warning him of the potentially "devastating" consequences of the embassy move. According to the official Palestinian news agency, Abbas also contacted other world leaders for support, asking that they made "every possible effort" to prevent the move. The Palestinian leader is heading to Europe over the weekend, and is going to meet Pope Francis on Saturday 14 January.

The US already has consular offices in Jerusalem, but Trump promised he would "recognise Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel" after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September. The president-elect pick for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, also supports moving the embassy and Republican senators have proposed a bill which aims to do just that.

According to the internationally-backed two-state solution, Jerusalem would become the shared capital of the state of Israel and of a Palestinian state which would comprise East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. East Jerusalem is currently under Israeli occupation, as a recent UN resolution reiterated, demanding a halt to "all Israeli settlement activities" to preserve the two-state solution. Outgoing Secretary of state John Kerry defended the need for a two-state solution to the conflict in a fiery speech in December. </s> Palestinian officials call for protests in mosques to object to the proposed move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and say it would violate Oslo peace agreements

Senior Palestinian officials have warned that the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s recognition of Israel – one of the key pillars of the moribund Oslo peace agreements – is in danger of being revoked if Donald Trump moves the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian leadership is also calling for protests in mosques and churches on Friday and Sunday to object to the move, calling for opposition to the plan “from Pakistan to Tehran, from Lebanon to Oman”.

Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem is highly contentious as it would recognise Israel’s exclusive claim to the city, most of which was annexed illegally after the 1967 war. The Palestinians also see it as their future capital.

Moving US embassy to Jerusalem could provoke violent 'chaos', experts warn Read more

Senior Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh told reporters on Tuesday that any move to relocate the US embassy would provoke a reaction. “One of the measures we are considering seriously is the issue of mutual recognition between the PLO and Israel. [It] is not valid any more doing this,” he said referring to the proposed embassy move.

The warning came amid increasingly stark warnings over the risk of an “explosion of violence” in the region if the US embassy is moved, and after Abbas himself wrote to Trump to reconsider, citing the dangers in the move.



In his letter – disclosed on Monday and also copied to other world leaders – Abbas told Trump moving the embassy “will likely have [a] disastrous impact on the peace process, on the two-state solution and on the stability and security of the entire region, since Israel’s decision to annex East Jerusalem contradicts with international law”.

The comments came after the officials said they had been told by diplomatic contacts that Trump may be preparing to announce the relocation of the US embassy during his inauguration speech on 20 January. CNN reported on Monday that Trump’s transition team had told “allies” that it plans to go ahead with the relocation.

That fear follows the introduction of new legislation in Congress a week ago by three Republican Senators, including Ted Cruz, demanding the embassy be located in Jerusalem.



Palestinians have also been alarmed by Trump’s appointment of figures who have supported Jewish settlement building in the occupied territories.



That includes Trump’s proposed new ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who has questioned the two-state solution, and most recently Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose family charity has given money to one of the West Bank’s most hardline settlements.

Friedman himself – an extreme rightwinger who has compared liberal US Jews to kapos or concentration camp guards chosen from among the prisoners – made clear on his appointment that he looked forward to taking up his post in Jerusalem.

Donald Trump's Israel ambassador is hardline pro-settler lawyer Read more

The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, had floated the idea of revoking recognition of Israel at a conference in Washington last month, a proposal that has gained momentum ahead of a peace conference in Paris on Sunday on the Middle East peace process.

Briefing journalists on diplomatic moves ahead of that gathering of some 70 countries in the French capital, Shtayyeh reinforced recent statements by other senior Palestinian politicians and warned that the two-state solution would not be able to survive a move by the Trump administration that would be seen in the Arab world as a unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Shtayyeh also suggested that such a move would also be a breach of US commitments under the 1995 Oslo peace agreement. “The US is a witness to the Oslo agreement, signed in the White House in front of President Clinton. This is an international commitment.”

While Palestinian officials had been careful to be diplomatic following Trump’s election, in recent weeks they have become more and more explicit about their concerns.



Asked about officials in Trump’s team who would deal with the Israeli-Palestinian question, Shtayyeh was pessimistic.

“The indications are negative,” Shtayyeh said of Trump’s recent appointments, adding: “If Trump moves the [US] embassy to Jerusalem that would be the end of the two-state solution. Trump would be giving away something that is not his to give.”

Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian leadership had received warnings that Trump might announce the relocation on inauguration days from “American circles and diplomatic friends”.

Shtayyeh’s remarks came following the leak of the draft resolution text to be considered in Paris on Sunday, which suggests participants will be asked to bind themselves to opposing any unilateral moves on changing Israel’s pre-1967 borders, including on the final status of Jerusalem that was left to be negotiated after the Oslo peace accords were signed.



The draft text – leaked to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz – suggests that moves that began with the adoption by the UN security council of a resolution condemning Israeli settlement building, seem set to continue right up to Trump’s inauguration.

The US embassy has been located on Tel Aviv’s HaYarkon Street for half a century. US state department policy has long held that the status of Jerusalem will only be determined in final talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Although the US Congress passed a law ordering the move to Jerusalem in 1995, every president since then has exercised a six-month waiver to prevent it taking place, usually citing “national security concerns”.

The Palestinian comments also join warnings from other international officials in recent days alerting to the dangers in moving the American embassy.

A Jordanian government spokesman warned last week that the move would have “catastrophic implications on several levels, including the regional situation” warning it could also affect bilateral relations with the US.

On Friday, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, echoed that view in an interview with CBS, warning that the plan, outlined by Trump on the campaign trail and reiterated by members of his team since, could cause an “an explosion, an absolute explosion in the region, not just in the West Bank, and perhaps even in Israel itself, but throughout the region”.

Kerry also warned that It would “have profound impact on the readiness of Jordan and Egypt to be able to be supportive and engaged with Israel as they are today”, he warned. </s> JERUSALEM — Palestinian officials voiced outrage on Wednesday over U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority, calling his tweets “blackmail” in the aftermath of the U.S. administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office rebuffed the U.S. leader’s remarks, saying that “Jerusalem is not for sale, neither for gold nor silver.”

Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said that “if the United States is keen on its interests in the Middle East, it must implement the international resolutions which call for a state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

“Without this, the United States will push the region to the abyss,” Abu Rdeneh added.

Trump expressed frustration on Tuesday over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and pointed his finger at the Palestinians.

“We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” he tweeted. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”

Trump upset the Palestinians last month by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announcing plans to move the U.S. Embassy to the holy city. The Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, accused Trump of siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in the conflict and subsequently said the U.S. could no longer serve as a mediator.

International support for the Palestinians increased sharply after the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, an autonomy government that was meant to last for five years as a prelude to a final peace deal. But negotiations have repeatedly sputtered, and the Palestinian Authority has become a permanent fixture, propped up by billions in international aid to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories.

The U.S., as one of the largest donors to the Palestinians, could inflict great pain on the Palestinians by cutting off aid. Yet it could also have a negative effect on Israel, which also relies on the Palestinian Authority to help maintain calm.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war.

As an occupying power, Israel is formally responsible for the welfare of Palestinians. The existence of the international-funded Palestinian Authority means Israel no longer needs to shoulder that financial burden. Israel also has a security interest in the continued functioning of the authority, since Palestinian security services co-operate with Israel to prevent attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.

The United States has contributed over $5 billion in economic and security aid since the mid-1990s, according to Congressional research figures. Annual economic aid since 2008 has averaged around $400 million, much of it devoted to development projects. Between 2012 and 2016, the United States Agency for International Development provided over $1.7 billion in development and humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, according to the U.S. State Department.

Additionally, the U.S has donated an average of $100 million annually to Abbas’s security services — and cutting that funding could prove disastrous for Israel.

The World Bank says there is currently no feasible alternative to aid as budget support to the Palestinian Authority, given the poor state of the Palestinian economy. It blames Israeli restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as a continued rift between the PA and the Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip for the economic troubles.

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the Palestinians “will not be blackmailed” by the president, adding that Trump “singlehandedly destroyed the very foundations of peace” by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last month.

“Trump has sabotaged our search for peace, freedom and justice,” she said Wednesday.

American officials have been weighing possible retaliatory actions against the Palestinians for a UN resolution condemning Trump’s Jerusalem decision. The resolution passed last month by a 128-9 margin.
• U.S. says it negotiated $285M cut in United Nations budget
• Netanyahu says ‘several countries’ may follow Trump’s lead on Jerusalem embassy switch

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley presaged Trump’s threat on Tuesday, saying the president doesn’t want to give more funds “until the Palestinians are willing to come back to the negotiation table.”

“We still very much want to have a peace process. Nothing changes with that. The Palestinians now have to show they want to come to the table,” Haley said. “As of now, they’re not coming to the table, but they ask for aid. We’re not giving the aid. We’re going to make sure that they come to the table.”

In addition to its support for the Palestinian Authority, the U.S. is also the largest donor UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees.

The U.S. donated $355 million to UNRWA in 2016, nearly 30 per cent of its total funding. A large portion of the organization’s activity is focused on providing health care, education and food aid to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Ending this aid could precipitate a humanitarian crisis, particularly in impoverished Gaza, where a majority of residents are eligible for UNRWA support.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said it had not been informed of any changes to U.S. funding at this time.

Culture Minister Miri Regev, a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet, said she was “very pleased” by Trump’s call to cut funding to the Palestinians. She said the Trump administration’s call to cut aid to UNRWA was “correct and important.” </s> Three years after the end of the Second World War and in the aftermath of the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany’s systematic persecution murdering 6 million European Jews, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed a new State of Israel on May 14, 1948.

According to published reports, “Truman sent his telegram recognizing Israel 11 minutes after Ben-Gurion proclaimed the country’s existence on May 14, 1948.”

President Donald Trump delivered on his campaign promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This fulfills America’s great promise in implementing the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, a public law of the United States passed by the 104th Congress on Oct. 23, 1995.

Yet again, it was an American president’s moral leadership to stand firm against the opposition and media critics.

President Trump continues the legacy of America’s leadership in affirming the shared values and principles with trusted allies. This date, May 14, 2018, will be marked in history as a triumphant day when Americans and Israelis gathered to affirm Israel’s sovereignty and renewed the bonds of the strategic partnership between the two rule of law countries.

In a letter written a few weeks prior to Israel’s declaration of independence, Chaim Weizmann, the future president of Israel, conveyed this message to President Truman:

“The choice for our people, Mr. President, is between statehood and extermination. History and providence have placed this issue in your hands, and I am confident that you will yet decide it in the spirit of the moral law.”

President Trump’s leadership in fulfilling America’s commitment to a trusted ally honors the principled endeavors advanced for decades by America’s conservative movement, evangelical Christians and partners in Israel and the Jewish American community.

There are notable moments in history when U.S. presidents have stood for a moral cause and opposed external pressures to keep the status quo. At this hour, American leadership was at its best as a shining example to the world.

Never has the certitude of the rightness of this strategic endeavor been as strong as it is now, to implement the public law of the United States — the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. After the U.S. and Guatemala, Paraguay becomes the third nation to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The State of Israel considers “Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital.” Over 3,000 years ago, King David established Jerusalem as the capital of the first Jewish kingdom.

However, nations around the world oppose America’s principled leadership in affirming Israel’s sovereignty. On Dec. 21, 2017, the U.N. General Assembly held a vote on an Egyptian-drafted resolution demanding that the Trump administration rescind its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel. A total of 128 of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly voted against America’s decision.

To make matters worse, America’s close allies on the 15-member U.N. Security Council, the influential and powerful body within the United Nations structure, voted for the resolution to embarrass the Trump administration.

Absent from the ranks to support Israel’s sovereignty and to recognize Jerusalem as the country’s capital were NATO members, a structure funded significantly by America’s taxpayers. NATO members missed an opportunity to side with the United States and Israel.

A great number of the Eastern Europe’s NATO members have failed to meet the alliance’s rule of law criteria including Croatia, Hungary and Poland. These countries are currently blocking efforts to return property confiscated during World War II to Jewish communities, a key article enshrined in the NATO’s charter as a prerequisite to joining the military alliance.

President Trump justifiably warned countries that are receiving U.S. taxpayer aid regarding their voting record when it comes to upholding the rule of law in the U.N. assembly.

Reuters reports: “According to figures from the U.S. government’s aid agency USAID, in 2016 the United States provided some $13 billion in economic and military assistance to countries in sub-Saharan Africa and $1.6 billion to states in East Asia and Oceania. It provided some $13 billion to countries in the Middle East and North Africa, $6.7 billion to countries in South and Central Asia, $1.5 billion to states in Europe and Eurasia and $2.2 billion to Western Hemisphere countries, according to USAID.”

A significant number of countries mired in corruption — and yet receiving U.S. taxpayer aid, generous loans and grants backed by the U.S. government through the International Monetary Fund and World Bank — continue to oppose rule of law reforms in their own jurisdictions while attacking America’s principled leadership.

In contrast, Israel is a beacon of democracy and the rule of law, and America’s key trusted ally in the Middle East.

Israel, known as the “startup nation,” is a leader in technology, medicine, agribusiness and desalination. Israeli innovations are empowering people in the developing world. Today, Israel’s engaged networks are actively sharing its resources with countries in Africa, Asia, Central and South America. Israeli scientists and experts have shared their unique drip irrigation system and natural pesticides. These practical approaches provide clean water and boosts agricultural yields for developing nations.

According to Israeli research, “there are now some 400 Israel agritech startups focusing on innovations for the global agriculture sector.”

The innovation and technology from Israel fuel our digital highways, strengthen cybersecurity measures and empower citizens through smartphones.

Venture capitalist Jon Medved stated at the inaugural Jerusalem Leaders Summit in 2015 in Israel, “There are 350 multinationals in Israel. If anyone wants to boycott Israel, you have to unhook the Internet, because God forbid, you should use a Cisco product, or a Google product, you shouldn’t go on Facebook, you should never use Intel — that means throw away your computers, you cannot use Qualcomm, because then you have to get rid of your cell phones.”

Citizens, consumers and businesses around the world benefit from Israel’s creativity and appreciate the benefits gained from cybersecurity, medical advances and agricultural innovation.

However, leaders from around the world ought to know better and acknowledge the importance of Israel’s rule of law foundation and the fruits of a vibrant market economy. Celebrating a nation’s sovereignty and its significant economic successes will go a long way in a region hampered by authoritarian regimes, rampant corruption, radical Islamism, a state of constant unrest and open conflicts.

Indeed, the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday will undoubtedly be celebrated by engaged citizens and stakeholders from America, Israel and beyond who are dedicated to strengthening the partnership of nations deeply rooted in the rule of law and freedom.

Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy are co-founders of the U.S.-based International Leaders Summit and Jerusalem Leaders Summit.

The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.
The Palestinian National Authority threatens to revoke its recognition of Israel (guaranteed by their signing of the Oslo I Accord in 1993) if the United States, under the presidency of Donald Trump, moves its Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.