India did well to join the UN General Assembly vote on Thursday that overwhelmingly criticised the US for deciding to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This would not have been a difficult decision considering that the major allies of the US such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan voted for the resolution and, impliedly, against the decision of the Trump administration which upended a 50-year-old understanding of US foreign policy that Jerusalem, whose eastern part was occupied by Israel in 1967, was a disputed and occupied city and that its status would be decided through negotiations between Palestine and Israel.
In a rare vote in the General Assembly, the US stood isolated when the resolution, moved by Turkey and Yemen, was passed 128-9 with 35 abstentions and a few countries absenting themselves. The result was one-sided although US president Donald Trump had threatened that he would cut aid to countries that voted in favour of the resolution. Mr. Trump was boorish enough to call such countries ungrateful. The US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley went to the extent of saying that America would “remember this day”, when time came for the US to make its contribution to the UN.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained extraordinary close relations with both, the US and Israel, seeking to inject personal warmth into these ties. But it would have been inconsistent with the Indian record in the UN to vote against the resolution, or even abstain. Since 1967, in the UN Security Council, India has backed moves to decide the status of Jerusalem through negotiations and denounced Israeli capture of East Jerusalem by force.
