The World’s Most Exclusive Club: The Countries that Voted Against the PA’s UN Bid
by Zach Pontz
Only nine countries voted against the Palestinian bid for upgraded status yesterday at the UN.
Friday morning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of these countries, “Nine states lined up along the side of truth and peace. History will judge them favorably. ”
Two of these were shoe-ins—Israel and the United States, and another, Canada, has been such a staunch supporter of Israel that it was all but certain that it would back Israel’s position. In fact, it has already taken steps to protest the UN’s decision.
The others are a curious lot.
The Czech Republic was the only EU country to vote against. The UK and Germany abstained, Italy, France and Spain all voted in favor. Earlier in the week Czech Foreign Ministry spokesmanVit Kolar said, “We disagree with any unilateral steps that could harm or threaten the peace process leading to a two-states solution.”
Panama was the only Latin American country to vote against. It said in a statement that “after a thorough political and legal analysis of draft resolution A/67/L.28 about Palestine, [it] regrets it cannot support it,” as the Palestinian Authority “must first resolve its differences with its neighbour, the State of Israel, which, like Palestine, has the right to a peaceful existence and a harmonious relation with Palestine and other States of the region.”
To round out the group was a small quartet from the South Pacific: the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau—all a part of the greater Micronesia sub-region. These nations typically support the U.S. and Israel at the U.N. Representatives for the countries did not immediately respond to The Algemeiner’s requests for comment.