On the eve of a vote at the UN General Assembly on the status of Jerusalem, Donald Trump raises his voice. On Wednesday, the US President has issued a strong warning to countries tempted to vote Thursday a resolution condemning Washington's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, threatening to cut US funding. "We take note of these votes," he told the White House, denouncing "all those countries that take our money and then vote against us on the Security Council."

»READ ALSO - Washington isolated after its initiative on Jerusalem

In this latest forum, Washington vetoed the condemnation of Donald Trump's December 6 decision, which provoked anger and protest in the Muslim world. Which did not prevent the United States from suffering a resounding diplomatic failure with the approval of the text by its fourteen partners, including its main European allies, France and the United Kingdom in mind. A new vote is scheduled Thursday from 16 hours (in France) to the General Assembly, which has 193 member countries. However, resolutions are not binding and there is no right of veto.

"They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us," stormed Donald Trump on Wednesday at a meeting with his entire cabinet. "Let them vote against us, we will save a lot, we do not care," he added.

Several ambassadors count on a score oscillating between 165 and 190 votes for. "If it's 130, it would be bad," said one of them on condition of anonymity. On Monday, US ambassador Nikki Haley, who had not lobbied her partners to abstain, showed a threatening face. This vote "is an insult we will not forget," glared at the minister of the American administration. On Tuesday, she was even further on the expected vote at the UN General Assembly: tweet, email, letter ...

"The President (Donald Trump) will watch this vote carefully and he asked me to tell him which countries voted against us," the diplomat wrote by letter or email to UN members. And "we will take note of every vote on this issue". A raging tweet from Nikky Haley was posted at the same time. "At the UN, we are always asked to do more and give more" and "we do not expect those we have helped to target us". Thursday, "the United States will note the names."

UN diplomats stunned

These protests, resumed on Wednesday by Donald Trump, have staggered many UN diplomats. "This is not how it works, we vote on principles," said an Asian ambassador on condition of anonymity. "You can not vote A for years and suddenly vote B," says a Latin American counterpart. With these pressures, "the United States may have a dozen abstentions from countries that may also choose not to vote," said a third ambassador, this time from Europe.

»READ ALSO - Jerusalem: the stakes of American recognition

On Wednesday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, who will be present at the UN for the vote, strongly denounced Washington's "threats" and "intimidation". His Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Cavusoglu, also rebelled. "The world has changed. The logic of "I am strong, so I am right" has changed. From now on, the world is rising against injustice. From now on, no nation that has the honor, no self-respecting State is bowing to this kind of pressure, "said the Turkish minister whose country is a US ally to NATO.

The resolution to the General Assembly, proposed by Yemen and Turkey, stresses that any decision on the status of Jerusalem "has no legal force, is null and void and must be revoked". The text recalls all the resolutions adopted by the United Nations relating to the colonization of Palestinian territories and emphasizing that Jerusalem must be part of a final peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. With two successive votes in the Security Council and the General Assembly, the Palestinians are trying to weigh in a future peace plan even if the credit of the United States as a mediator is seriously dehorned, says a diplomat.