Over 120 countries vote for UN resolution condemning Trump's Jerusalem recognition

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley vetos an Egyptian-drafted resolution regarding recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem, during the United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including Palestine, at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., December 18, 2017. | Reuters/Brendan McDermid

A total of 128 members of the U.N. General Assembly voted on Thursday for a resolution denouncing President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The nonbinding resolution declaring Trump's decision "null and void" was approved 128–9, despite the president's threats to cut off aid to any country that would cast a vote in its favor.

According to The Associated Press, 35 of the 193 U.N. member nations abstained from the vote, while 21 were not present.

The resolution, sponsored by Yemen and Turkey, reiterates the U.N.'s stance that Jerusalem's final status must be decided in direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

Prior to the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley warned that Washington would be "taking names" of the nations that went against the administration's Jerusalem decision.

"The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation," Haley told the assembly on Thursday as the vote approached.

"We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the United Nations. And we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit," she added.

After the vote, Haley tweeted an image that listed the 65 countries that either voted no, abstained or were absent saying, "We appreciate these countries for not falling to the irresponsible ways of the UN."

Apart from the U.S., the countries that voted against the resolution were Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, the Marshall Islands and Togo.

The countries that abstained from the Thursday's vote include Australia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Philippines, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan.

Australian U.N. Ambassador Gillian Bird explained that Australia wanted to see the U.S. continue to play a leadership role in brokering peace, and decided to abstain because it did not wish to isolate any party from the process.

Haley maintained that the resolution will make no difference in the administration's plans to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but "will make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N., and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the U.N."

Earlier this week, the U.S. vetoed a similar resolution at the 15-member U.N. Security Council. The Egypt-drafted resolution, which was approved by the remaining 14 members, did not specifically mention the U.S or Trump but it expressed "deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem."