February 21, 2024
US vetoes third UN Security Council resolution on Gaza war ceasefire
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The United States Tuesday (Feb. 20) vetoed another United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israeli war against Hamas.
The US was the only country to vote against the resolution put moved by Algeria while the United Kingdom abstained.
Algeria, the current Arab member of the Security Council, put forward an initial draft resolution more than two weeks ago.
It was the third U.S. veto of a Security Council resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. Earlier on October 18, and December 2023 US vetoes resolutions on Gaza war ceasefire.
The UN Security Council’s 13 other member countries voted in favor of the resolution demanding a halt to the war that has killed more than 29,000 people in Gaza and displaced more than 80 percent of the population.
For a UN Security Council resolution to be adopted, it requires at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by any of the five permanent members: the US, UK, France, Russia or China.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said her country was vetoing the resolution over concerns it would jeopardize talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
She rejected suggestions that the veto was a US effort to cover for an imminent Israeli ground invasion into the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million displaced people are sheltering.
The US said on Monday that it had proposed a rival draft resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire and opposing a major ground offensive by Israel in Rafah.
World slams US veto
China: Zhang Jun, China’s envoy to the UN, expressed “strong disappointment and dissatisfaction” with the US, according to the Xinhua news agency.
“The US veto sends a wrong message, pushing the situation in Gaza into a more dangerous one,” said Zhang, adding that objection to a ceasefire in Gaza is “nothing different from giving the green light to the continued slaughter”.
“Only by extinguishing the flames of war in Gaza can the world prevent the fires of hell from engulfing the entire region,” Xinhua quoted him as saying.
Russia: Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia said the US veto marked “another black page in the history of the Security Council.”
He accused the US of trying to play for time so that Israel could complete its “inhumane plans” for Gaza, namely to squeeze the Palestinians out of the territory and completely “cleanse” the enclave.
He added that no matter how bitter the “aftertaste” of the vote may be, “we are not in the mood to give up”.
France: France’s UN envoy Nicolas de Riviere expressed regret that the resolution “could not be adopted, given the disastrous situation” in Gaza.
De Riviere added that France, which voted for the resolution, would continue to work towards all captives being released and for a ceasefire to be “implemented immediately”.
Norway: Norway’s mission to the UN said it “regrets” that the council was not able to adopt a resolution on an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
“It is imperative to end the horror in Gaza,” it added.
Cuba: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez blasted the US, saying its veto made it complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
“The US has just vetoed again the UN Security Council resolution that demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the forced displacement of the Palestinian population,” Bermudez said in a social media post. “They are accomplices of this genocide of Israel against Palestine.”
Amnesty International: Agnes Callamard, the director of the human rights group, said that Washington had a chance to protect Palestinian civilians but chose “the opposite path” at the UNSC.
“And yet again… when the US could do the right thing: protect Palestinians against serious risks of genocide; respect international law and universality; prevent massive killings and sufferings – it chose the opposite path,” Callamard said.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR): CAIR director Nihad Awad said Muslim Americans were “running out of words” to condemn Biden’s support for the “genocide” in Gaza.
“The latest US veto of a UN ceasefire resolution is shameful. President Biden should stop acting like Benjamin Netanyahu’s defense lawyer and start acting like the President of the United States,” Awad said in a statement.
“We call on the American people to continue expressing their opposition to the Biden administration’s support for the Israeli government’s war crimes by contacting the White House and their elected officials and calling on them to demand a ceasefire, access to humanitarian aid, and the pursuit of a just, lasting peace.”
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
