U.S. President Donald Trump threatened North Korea, Pakistan and Palestine within the last 48 hours in tweets posted to his official Twitter account.
He warned that the U.S. could cut its $300 million annual aid to Palestine if the country does not attend the negotiations of the Middle East peace process.
Noting that the U.S. pays the Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars a year, Trump said his country receives “no appreciation or respect” in return. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them,” he added.
The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “Jerusalem is not for sale,” responding to the threats issued by Trump. Nabil Abu Rudainah, the spokesperson for Abbas, stated on Wednesday that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Palestine and it is not for sale, for gold or billions.”
On Dec. 6, Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking angry demonstrations in many Muslim countries and worldwide condemnation.
The matter was then brought to the UN General Assembly at a rare emergency special session and a resolution was adopted which rejected and condemned Trump’s decision.
A total of 128 members voted in favor of the resolution, nine countries voted against and 35 others abstained.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas called Trump’s threat to cut its financial aid “a cheap political extortion.”
"The threats made by the U.S. president to stop providing assistance to UNRWA and the Palestinian authorities until the Palestinians return to negotiations with the Israeli side are a cheap political extortion that reflects the US' barbarous and immoral behavior toward justice and the rights of the Palestinian people," Hamas movement’s spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said in a written statement.
The Pakistani government reacted to Trump’s tweets claiming that Pakistan deceived the U.S. regarding counterterrorism. The meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi stated that the Pakistani nation knows how to defend itself and vowed to continue efforts for stability in the region, adding that the country fought the war on terror with its limited economy and resources.
“Recent statements and articulation by the American leadership were completely incomprehensible as they contradicted facts manifestly, struck with great insensitivity at the trust between two nations built over generations, and negated the decades of sacrifices made by the Pakistani nation,” the statement said.
Trump on Monday said in a tweet that the United States had given Pakistan 33 billion dollars in aid, but Islamabad allegedly provided safe havens to terrorists fighting in Afghanistan, which was denied by Pakistan.
U.S. President Trump took aim at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who said a nuclear button is always on the desk of his office. “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his, and my button works,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
Kim had remarked that the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of North Korea’s range of nuclear strike.
