Punctuating America’s increasing international isolation, the United Nations Security Council demanded on Monday that the Trump administration rescind its decisions to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to put the United States Embassy there.
The demand, in a resolution that its backers knew would likely offend the United States, was vetoed by the American ambassador, Nikki R. Haley. She was alone.
Even America’s staunchest allies on the 15-member Council, the most powerful body in the United Nations system, voted for the resolution.
They warned that Mr. Trump’s Dec. 6 announcement about Jerusalem, which upended decades of American policy, threatened to subvert the effort to solve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
Ignoring the ostracism, Ms. Haley chastised fellow Council members after the midday vote, calling it “an embarrassment” and arguing that Mr. Trump’s decision two weeks ago was a “U.S. recognition of the obvious.”
Any suggestion that the Trump administration’s decision had harmed the peace process was “a scandalous charge,” she said, noting that it was the first time in six years that the United States had used its veto power in the Council.
“Today, for the simple act of deciding where to put our embassy, the United States was forced to defend its sovereignty,” she said. “The record will reflect that we did so proudly.”
The one-page resolution, drafted by Egypt, reiterated the longstanding position of the Security Council, in several resolutions dating back 50 years, rejecting Israel’s sovereignty claim over Jerusalem, the holy city revered by Christians, Jews and Muslims.
