The United States took a shellacking today at the United Nations, when 128 countries voted to denounce President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
But, in truth, not much is going to change as a result of this vote. The Trump administration will stand by its decision. They’ll continue plans to move our embassy to Jerusalem. The moribund peace process will stay moribund. And, despite all Trump’s threats, the United States will not cut off aid and assistance to every nation that voted against us.
That’s because he knows — or at least the more measured people working around him know — that our aid and assistance packages serve our national interests. Even the State Department spokesperson walked it back a little, reminding the press that Thursday’s vote is “not the only factor the administration would take into consideration in dealing with our foreign relations.”
Foreign aid and assistance is not charity. It’s vital to our security and to the security of our allies and partners. We contribute to the economic growth, development, security and humanitarian needs of numerous countries, and that helps ensure those countries’ problems don’t blow up into larger, longer stability problems in the region — which we may then need to expend more blood and treasure to address.
Even Trump’s much-touted national security strategy acknowledges, we “aid others judiciously, aligning our means to our objectives, but with a firm belief that we can improve the lives of others while establishing conditions for a more secure and prosperous world.”
As reported by CNN