The Biden Administration demonstrated to the world once again how isolated it is, when it vetoed a ceasefire resolution that came before the UN Security Council yesterday for the fifth time since the current Gaza war began more than a year ago. The resolution, drafted by the 10 non-permanent members of the council, led by Guyana, was supported by all the other 14 members. In other words, even U.S. allies France and the U.K. voted for the resolution, leaving the U.S. as the sole veto.
Robert Wood, the U.S. deputy ambassador, used the excuse that the resolution didn’t provide a pathway to the release of the remaining hostages still being held in Gaza. After the vote, he claimed that the resolution would have vindicated Hamas, and he called attention to the roughly 100 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group, reported The Hill.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana’s UN representative, said the resolution “responded to critical issues” in Gaza, where more than 43,000 Palestinians have died amid the more than 13 months of war and where many are struggling for access to basic food and necessities. “Many have said that the ongoing annihilation of the Palestinian people is a major stain on our collective human conscience,” she said. “Today the Council had the opportunity to begin erasing that stain by demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.”
“But despite our best efforts, and the almost universal support to go in that direction, the Council was again hamstrung by a veto,” Rodrigues-Birkett added.
According to TASS, the draft resolution consists of nine paragraphs, the first of which calls for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire respected by all parties. The document also calls for the release of all hostages held in the enclave, respect for international law by all parties, and humanitarian access to the civilian population of Gaza.
“It is shocking that the U.S. has vetoed an effort to save lives of Palestinians and Israelis. Though perhaps, we should not be surprised about it,” Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia told the Council after the vote. “For months, the U.S. has obstructed and obfuscated, standing in the way of Council action to address the catastrophic situation in Gaza, and playing one side of the conflict to advance its own political objectives, at the expense of Palestinian lives.”
Nebenzia went on: “Now I would like to address my American colleagues. I would like to say that today you have definitively shown that you are fully responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, for deprivations of refugees, and sufferings of hostages and illegally detained Palestinians. It was interesting to listen to the statement by the U.S. representative [Wood] … today. He argued, for example, that the resolution does not contain a provision on the release of hostages. But it does contain such a provision. Perhaps the U.S. representative should have read through the resolution before voting against it? …”
“The cold-blooded and cynical obstruction by the U.S. of a simple demand on behalf of the Security Council—to save human lives—is an unconscionable and inhumane act.” he stressed.
