The White House threatened to veto a UN Security Council resolution that would call for a ceasefire in Gaza and set up an expedited inspection mechanism for bringing aid into Gaza. The US is demanding that the resolution affirm Israel’s right to self-defense and that the part of the text calling for a ceasefire be changed. The vote was scheduled for Monday but has been delayed three times this week because of the US veto threat.
According to the Associated Press, “The US is seeking to change the text’s references to a cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Hamas war and to putting the United Nations in charge of inspecting trucks to ensure they are actually carrying humanitarian goods, which Israel opposes.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington has two additional issues with the resolution. “It’s important for us, if the Security Council is going to speak on this, that there’s a condemnation of Hamas and what they did on the 7th of October, there’s a recognition of the need for Israel to be able to defend itself, and there’s of course, significant commitment by all members on getting humanitarian assistance into the people of Gaza.”
The UNSC was scheduled to vote on the resolution on Monday, but the body has delayed the motion in an effort to find a compromise that will placate Washington. Even if the US veto threat remains, Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, which sponsored the Arab-backed resolution, said the UN’s most powerful body will vote on the motion Thursday.
The Biden administration has firmly opposed any suggestions that Israel should end its military operations in Gaza. The Israeli onslaught has decimated Gaza. Over 20,000 are dead, most women and children. Additionally, the infrastructure has been left in ruins, adding starvation and epidemics to the threats Palestinians face daily.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed Washington was concerned that the creation of a UN mechanism for inspecting aid entering Gaza would slow the process. However, aid groups have criticized Tel Aviv for the current intense inspection system that has caused bottlenecks in deliveries to Gaza.
On Monday, the text concerning the ceasefire called for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities.” By Wednesday, the resolution was watered down to a call “for the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
The resolution calls for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a UN-exclusive monitor system for aid entering Gaza. After October 7, Israel placed a near-total siege on Gaza. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Israeli forces are “deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.”
HRW said the amount of aid is “at grossly insufficient levels.” Omar Shakir, HRW’s Israel and Palestine director concluded, “Israel has been depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare.”
The World Food Program reports over half of the households in Gaza are experiencing severe levels of hunger and only ten percent of the food required to feed the people in the Strip has entered Gaza since October 7. Gaza’s medical system is also on the brink of collapse with medical facilities reporting frequent attacks by Israeli forces and a lack of resources.
In November, the UNSC passed a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza. The US abstained from that vote. On December 8, Washington vetoed a resolution that demanded a ceasefire.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Potential war crimes and crimes against humanity?……
Did you say “potential” or “potent” ?
I kinda think the latter.
Why is the threat of a US veto even a consideration? Unless a ‘yes’ is in Israel’s best interest, the US default is always ‘no’. Under those conditions, it’s a point academic exercise. How to counter it? Kobayashi Maru. Change the rules- eliminate the veto power of a single nation under certain conditions (like those presently in Gaza).
I wonder what the US would do without veto power. Just make themselves the policeman of the world and ignore the UN whenever they please? /s
There would be no UN if the US and the other WWII Allies didn’t have veto power. A world-policing organization under their control was at the heart of the concept. Indeed, the Allies were calling themselves the “United Nations” throughout much of the war, long before the San Francisco conference.
Bingo
Duplicate deleted.
Blame Hamas. Take a pause to get inadequate aid in. And let the killing continue. What’s not to like?
“do as we say, not as we do…”
…. uncle sam
zionists go home to europe.
Every time Kirby opens his mouth, you have to cringe:
– If Hamas is to be condemned for 10/7, then Israel should be condemned, always and repeatedly, for the occupation since 1967 and for not meeting UN resolutions seeking the end to occupation.
– Until Israel ends its occupation, it has no right to self defense against people it is occupying.
– The only people standing against significant humanitarian assistance to Gaza are the US and Israel.
Who does this fool think he’s fooling?
He is fooling those who want to be fooled by pretty lies to assuage any guilt they have in their support of this administration and its genocide. “See, the US cares about human rights, they said so”.
But watching Kirby is a portrait of humiliation, just like Sean Spicer claiming Trump had the largest crowd at inauguration in history, neither has/had the best poker face spewing lies.
caliman has it right. The first and last word on all of this madness is the occupation; the illegal belligerent subjugation of Palestine by the State of Israel. For background: Study on the Legality of the Israeli Occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (United Nations, 2023)
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ceirpp-legal-study2023/
hey you sons of a bitch you will get in the very big giant line that i have scribed right here into the very sand that your oil is extracted from!
sons of a bitch what
edit) = and don’t make me come over there
…. uncle sam