The United Nations Security Council chamber in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to convene on Friday regarding President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Eight countries that sit on the 15-member UN body — France, Bolivia, Egypt, Italy, Senegal, Sweden, the UK and Uruguay — requested that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres brief the council on the US policy change.

“The UN has given Jerusalem a special legal and political status, which the Security Council has called upon the international community to respect. That is why we believe the Council needs to address this issue with urgency,” Deputy Swedish UN Ambassador Carl Skau said Wednesday.

Following Trump’s Jerusalem announcement, Guterres told reporters, “I have consistently spoken out against any unilateral measures that would jeopardize the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”

A UN Security Council resolution adopted in December 2016 stated that the world body “will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.” Israel took control of a reunified Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley lauded the US policy change as “the just and right thing to do.”