NEW YORK, December 18, 2017 (WAFA) - The United States Monday vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution rejecting US President Donald Trump‘s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel‘s capital, and his plans to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.

The draft resolution, proposed and drafted by Egypt, was backed by the 14 member states who considered the US decision illegal and contradicts international law and the will of the international community.

With this final veto, the US has officially used its power as a permanent member of the UNSC to support Israel 43 times.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, announced her country’s plans to veto the draft resolution hours before the vote.

The vote on the draft resolution came less than two weeks after Trump‘s infamous speech, which reversed decades of US policy on the status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Palestinian Authority announced that it will take the vote to the UN General Assembly, where “the US will not be able to use this privilege,” said the minister of foreign affairs and expatriates Riyad al-Malki.

M.H