United Nations: The United States of America in another move to show its support for the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli Occupation Forces Friday December 08, 2023 vetoed a UNSC resolution calling for immediate ceasefire in the besieged territory.
The UNSC has a total of 15 members. A total of 13 UNSC members backed the resolution whereas the United Kingdom abstained from voting.
A UNSC resolution requires 9 votes to get through. Accordingly, the UNSC resolution backed by 13 of the 15 members was passed by a huge majority but for the US veto.
Here’s the US representative at the UN Security Council, so smug & arrogant as he vetoes the immediate ceasefire resolution.History will remember that the US was the only country who voted in favor of Israel continuing the genocide against Palestinians.pic.twitter.com/KVPz0RBMyz— Manolo De Los Santos (@manolo_realengo) December 9, 2023
Here’s the US representative at the UN Security Council, so smug & arrogant as he vetoes the immediate ceasefire resolution.History will remember that the US was the only country who voted in favor of Israel continuing the genocide against Palestinians.pic.twitter.com/KVPz0RBMyz
This is the 5th UNSC resolution calling to stop the Israeli massacre of the Palestinians in the past 60 days. All resolutions have been blocked by the Americans raising a strong doubt over its commitments towards human rights and world peace.
The UNSC blocked by the United States Friday was drafted and moved by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Earlier, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres went before the Security Council Friday to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to avert a humanitarian catastrophe that could have ramifications for peace and security in the region and beyond, two days after he invoked Article 99 of the United Nations Charter.
“We are at a breaking point [and] the situation is simply becoming untenable,” António Guterres told the 15-member organ, emphasizing that there is a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s war against Hamas raged for a sixty-third day.
“The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs — ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival — but nowhere in Gaza is safe,” he said, warning that Palestinians in Gaza are, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), at serious risk of starvation and famine while health care is collapsing.
“The people of Gaza are looking into the abyss. The international community must do everything possible to end their ordeal,” he said, ahead of another meeting later today when the Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution, presented by the United Arab Emirates, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Particpating in the debate, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, asked whether the Council is supposed to pretend that Israel’s objective is not the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.
"If the Council is against the destruction of the Palestinian people, then it must be in favour of an immediate ceasefire", he said.
"More than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are fighting for their lives every day, he said, adding: “Tell them — show them — help is on the way."
“This is the moment of truth,” he continued, as the shame is not on those calling for a ceasefire in the face of such atrocities — it haunts those refusing to do so. This is Netanyahu’s war […] the war of the extremist coalition in power in Israel", he said.
Riyad Mansour also rejected that the Israeli shelling in Gaza is its "war against Hamas".
"No one should pretend that this war is targeting Hamas when 70 per cent of those killed are women and children", he said.
Citing hostages held by Israel as a means to terrorize and pressure the Palestinian people, he referred to “2 million hostages in the Gaza Strip.”
"There is no hierarchy of races, faiths or nationalities and no one should take example from the horrors of the Second World War to justify horrors taking place in Gaza. Israeli exceptionalism must end immediately, he said, calling on the international community to stop rewriting international law to fit Israeli crimes", he said.
The UNSC vote on Gaza ceasefire took place after the UN Secretary General invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to call for ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel’s delegate however questioned the UN Chief's move to invoke Article 99 and asked why it was not used when Russia invaded Ukraine.
"After the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, a chance of a global war became a possible reality, yet Article 99 was not invoked. Thousands of people were also killed and millions displaced in Yemen and Syria, but again, Article 99 was not invoked", he said.
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