The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday voted resoundingly in favor of a resolution rebuking U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Leading up to the vote, the U.S. threatened U.N. members, saying it would be "taking names" of those who opposed its wishes.
Nonetheless, 128 nations – including every Arab country – stood together in support of Palestine, with only nine nations voting against the resolution, including Israel and the U.S. Thirty-five nations abstained from voting, and 21 others didn't show up to vote.
Palestine's UN envoy Riyad Mansour called the result as a “massive setback” for the U.S.
“They made it about them,” Mansour told AFP.
“They did not make it about Jerusalem, so when you make it about them and to only be able to get nine votes to say ‘no’ to it, I think it was a complete failure for their campaign.”
The vote follows a rebuke from the U.N. Security Council on Monday, which saw all its members, except the U.S., vote in favor of a similar resolution. Despite the 14 to 1 vote, the U.S. has veto power on the council – along with France, Russia, China, and the United Kingdom – meaning the resolution did not pass.
While a resolution from the U.N. General Assembly holds less weight than one passed by the U.N. Security Council, Thursday's vote clearly demonstrates where the majority of the world stands when it comes to Palestine and Israel.
U.S. threats had little effect on the final result, although some nations may have abstained, not wanting to compromise relations with Trump's government.
"Let them vote against us,” the U.S. President said on Wednesday.
“We’ll save a lot. We don’t care," he added.
Trump went on to say that things will be different than when they were under previous U.S. administrations.
"But this isn’t like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said.
“We’re not going to be taken advantage of any longer.”
While the threat of cutting aid may have affected some nations' decisions, Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, says such a decision by the U.S. will have a minimal influence overall.
"The right wing in the United States has long spread around the false story that the US government gives away enormous amounts of money to other countries," Cole writes on his blog.
"The actual US foreign aid budget is $41.9 billion, about one percent of the Federal budget."
Cole also points out that Germany and the U.K., which have a fourth and a fifth of the U.S. population respectively, each give about $20 billion in foreign aid annually.
"Those two countries actually account for nearly as much aid as the whole U.S.," he explains.
Furthermore, Cole explains that foreign aid is actually used by the U.S. as a tool to grow support from nations abroad. If the aid doesn't come through, these nations will simply turn to others – such as Russia or China – to make up the difference. Thus cutting aid could actually hurt the U.S. position globally.
Although the U.N. vote is seen by many as a rejection of Trump's position on Palestine and Jerusalem, many activists are also skeptical.
"It's a pointless exercise," Amany Khalifa, a political activist in Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera.
"The Palestinian Authority (PA) has to evaluate the whole diplomatic process of going to the UN. The experience we've had is that for decades now these resolutions have not changed anything."
The U.S. also voiced its intentions to move forward with its plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem, despite the U.N. vote.
"The United States will remember this day," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told the assembly.
"America will put our embassy in Jerusalem," Haley said.
"No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that."
Regardless, many Palestinians see the support of the majority of the international community as a strong reminder of the legitimacy of their cause.
"The international community has unequivocally proved that it will not be intimidated or blackmailed, and its members will defend the global rule of law," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a statement following the vote.
"We extend our gratitude and appreciation to the 128 countries who supported the resolution and sent a clear message that Israel cannot maintain its illegal annexation of Jerusalem," Ashrawi said.
"This further demonstrates the isolation of the U.S. in its blind support of Israeli lawlessness and impunity."