No CARICOM consensus on US Jerusalem motion

Photo: United Nations

1421989017161085953gmail-aBn">Thursday on whether or not to support the decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

CARICOM member countries were divided in their approach to voting at the United Nations on the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel.

No CARICOM nation actually supported the decision, but some countries openly voted no to render the decision null and void, while others abstained from voting. Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname were among the 128 nations that voted to void the US decision, while Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago abstained. St. Lucia and Haiti did not register a response of any kind.

Trinidad and Tobago Foreign Minister said that the country abstained from voting, after considering the country’s domestic position. Belize’s Foreign Minister, Wilfred Elrington, said that Belize would base its vote on respecting international law and the work that has been done over the years trying to achieve a peaceful resolution between Israel and Palestine.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines addressed the United States directly, asking the government to reconsider recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, and moving its embassy there, because any such recognition would “invalidate the important role of the United States as an honest broker and driver of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.”

The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warned that she would be “taking names” of those countries that voted in support of the resolution and retaliate by cutting aid to those countries. US President Donald Trump told the international press that his country would save billions by cutting aid to those countries.

“This isn’t like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars. We’re not going to be taken advantage of any longer,” Trump said.