US Blocks UN Security Council Rebuke of Israel Demolishing Palestinian Homes

Diplomats say that a proposal by members of the UN Security Council to condemn Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes has been blocked, with the US rejecting the language of the resolution, and then rejecting an alternative text.

The US has long used its veto at the UN Security Council to prevent formal criticism of Israel. The proposal was offered by Kuwait, Indonesia, and South Africa, and is believed to have been broadly accepted, outside of the US.

In general, objections to specific parts of the text can be used to delay votes, but are meant to solicit a watered-down version. It’s not clear why the US didn’t just veto the proposal in the first place.

US officials generally will veto anything that Israel doesn’t like at the UN Security Council, and then follow it up with angry statements about how awful the UN is in general.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.