Trump: We'll stop funding countries who vote against the Jerusalem embassy move at the UN

The diplomatic establishment is already screeching, as you might expect, that it's a "break from diplomatic norms" or whatever. I've never seen "not normal" used as a supposed criticism more than we've seen it used in the past year. What's normal is to let the UN run roughshod over us and our ally Israel without making them pay any price for it. Insane. Stupid. Counterproductive in every conceivable way. And sadly normal. Now the reflexivly anti-Israel UN is doing what it does - threatening to pass a resolution condemning us for the decisiont to move our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is little more than ending the charade that Jerusalem isn't Israel's capital in every meaningful way. UN member states figure it's just checking a box to pass another Israel-hating resolution. This time they might be surprised:

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Despite the condemnation, the Trump administration isn’t caving to international pressure, with U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley serving notice that she "will be taking names" on who votes in favor of the resolution Thursday. “We're always asked to do more & give more," Haley wrote on Twitter. “So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl [people], abt [about] where to locate OUR embassy, we don't expect those we've helped to target us. On Thurs there'll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names." Haley's threat drew sharp criticism from the Palestinian and Turkish foreign ministers before they flew to New York for the General Assembly vote. They accused the U.S. of intimidation. Trump strongly supported Haley’s words and threatened to cut off U.S. funding to countries that support the resolution. "For all these nations, they take our money and then vote against us. They take hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions of dollars and then they vote against us," Trump told reporters on Wednesday at a Cabinet meeting in Washington with Haley sitting nearby. "We're watching those votes. Let them vote against us."

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UN as a body routinely gives cover to terrorists who threaten to wipe Israel off the face of the map, but suggest you might withhold some cash and you're engaged in "intimidation."

The "intimidation" complaint is really something. The UN as a body routinely gives cover to terrorists who threaten to wipe Israel off the face of the map, but suggest you might withhold some cash and you're engaged in "intimidation." Got it. I'm not sure if Trump is talking about foreign aid we pay directly to some of these countries or if he's talking about what we spend funding the UN. I'd be all for cutting off both. That's not because I embrace some sort of America-first belief that foreign aid never has a good purpose. Sometimes it does. But one of its purposes should be that we have some influence of the people we support. When they're pulling crap like this and paying no price in terms of a reduction in their aid, then we're doing it wrong and we're missing the opportunity to actually exercise that influence. Foreign aid isn't as big a part of the budget as some people think. In fact, it's microscopic. We spend about $2 billion bankrolling the UN, which is still a tiny part of the budget but is what those of us in the rest of the world call real money. We could certainly use $2 billion in about 1,000 better ways than that. But the main point is this: Israel can choose whatever city it wants for its capital. We can put our embassy in Israel wherever we want as long as it's OK with Israel. Other countries don't have the slightest business saying anything about it. If they decide to anyway, all while receiving the financial beneficience of the United States, something is going to have to change. And if that represents a "break from diplomatic norms," then let's commence the breaking.

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