On Wednesday, a combative Donald Trump issued a direct threat against countries that voted in favor of a United Nations resolution that condemned his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It didn’t go as planned.
“They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us,” President Trump said of countries that planned to vote for the resolution. “Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”
Well, Trump’s threat seems to have already backfired, as Israeli reporter Barak Ravid says he’s received word that Canada will abstain from voting on the UN resolution after having previously planned to vote with the United States against it.
“Canada considered voting against the UNGA resolution on Trump’s Jerusalem announcement but changed vote to abstention after hearing Trump’s threats in order not to be perceived as US puppet, Western diplomats tell me,” Ravid reported.
BREAKING: Canada considered voting against the UNGA resolution on Trump's Jerusalem announcement but changed vote to abstention after hearing Trump's threats in order not to be perceived as US puppet, Western diplomats tell me
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) December 21, 2017
The UN General Assembly is still expected to vote overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution, despite Trump’s threats.
