Kosovo president Hashim Thaci said his Muslim-majority nation would have voted with the United States against a United Nations resolution condemning the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, JTA reported on Friday.
Thaci was quoted as having said in a recent interview with the Albanian newspaper Express that were Kosovo to achieve full United Nations membership it would vote with the United States “all the time” including on last month’s resolution on Jerusalem.
The UN General Assembly approved a non-binding resolution condemning the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
128 countries voted in favor of the resolution, with 35 abstaining and nine voting against.
That vote came after the U.S. vetoed a similar motion at the UN Security Council. It does not have veto power at the General Assembly.
Among those countries which did not vote for the resolution was Bosnia, which like Kosovo is Muslim majority, noted JTA.
Kosovars are overwhelmingly pro-American and also admire Jews. The Clinton administration led the NATO action in 1999 that pushed back Serbia’s repression of its Muslim majority, Albanian speaking province and the George W. Bush administration recognized Kosovo when it declared independence in 2008.
So far, over 100 nations have recognized Kosovo as an independent nation. The opposition of Russia and China has kept Kosovo from getting UN membership.
This week, the U.S. delegation to the United Nations hosted a reception for all 64 countries that voted against the resolution, abstained or did not participate.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)