US opposes UN resolution upholding Syria’s right to Golan

The United States has voted for the first time against a U.N. resolution upholding Syria’s right to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured during the 1967 war.

The General Assembly’s decolonization committee voted 152-2 in favor of the resolution, with 14 abstentions. The U.S. previously abstained on the resolution, but on Friday it voted “no,” joined by Israel.

The resolution calls Israel’s laws, jurisdiction and administration of “the occupied Syrian Golan” to be “null and void.”

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced in advance that the U.S. would vote “no,” calling the resolution “biased against Israel.”

She added, “Further, the atrocities the Syrian regime continues to commit prove its lack of fitness to govern anyone.”

The resolution is virtually certain to be adopted by the 193-member General Assembly in December.