Sir, – I am astonished by the threatening language used by the US representative at the UN to countries that disagreed with the US decision on Jerusalem. America forgets that the whole point of the UN is that countries should be able to voice reasonable opinions without being in receipt of threats from those with whom they disagree (World News, December 22nd).
Once again the US is abandoning its international leadership role and leaving a vacuum that will be filled by China. – Yours, etc,
LESLIE LAWLESS,
Dublin 4.
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Sir, – The UN general assembly has passed 189 motions about Palestinian refugees but not one about the over 800,000 Jews thrown out of Arab countries after 1948, often with just the clothes on their backs. Among these were Iraqi Jews who had lived there for thousands of years.
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has bravely called out the bias and bigotry of the UN’s general assembly when it incomes to both Israel and the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Muslim states.
Hopefully Ms Haley will soon become America’s first female president. – Yours, etc,
KARL MARTIN,
Bayside, Dublin 13.
Sir, – The United States is the United States, but it isn’t the United Nations. The United Nations is watching you. – Yours, etc,
PÁDRAIC HARVEY,
An Cheathrú Rua,
Co na Gaillimhe.
Sir, – I am delighted the UN general assembly would not let themselves be bullied, and that is the exact word, by the de facto president of the US or its ambassador to the UN in Thursday’s vote on the status of Jerusalem.
Only seven states voted along with the US and Israel, as opposed to 128 states who voted to uphold the more diplomatic and long-standing stance. Internationally, and this matters, Jerusalem is not recognised as the capital of Israel. – Yours, etc,
Dr JAMES FINNEGAN,
Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
Sir, – At year’s end 2016, the Trump presidency and Brexit were predicted to be the dominant issues for 2017, and so it has been and, no doubt will continue to be for 2018.
While Brexit has had its low points throughout the year it has had the occasional high point, from an Irish focus at least, none more so than the recent “phase 1 agreement”.
But, for many, the Trump presidency has been a litany of low and yet lower points laced with menace, arrogance and bullying. How pathetic it was to hear, in recent days, the US ambassador to the UN behave like a Dickensian headmistress on the Jerusalem issue. The arrogance of her statement that “We will remember it when so many countries come calling . . .” is on a par with rhetoric spewed from clandestine regimes.
My wish for 2018 is that fewer and fewer countries will “come calling”. Then Donald Trump and his cloned minions may begin to taste the bitterness of the words they regularly spit upon the rest of us as the realisation dawns that they share the podium of absurdity and isolation alongside Kim Jong-un. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL GANNON,
Kilkenny.
Sir, – President Trump now has the best friends that money can buy. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL PEGUM,
Donnybrook, Dublin 4.