March
26, 2024
On
Monday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for a
two-week ceasefire in Gaza, after the United States abstained from a vote on
the resolution.
Linda
Thomas-Greenfield, United States Ambassador and Representative to the United
Nations, votes to abstain as the United Nations Security Council passed a
cease-fire resolution in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, its
first demand to halt fighting at U.N. headquarters, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP
Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Biden
administration officials made it clear that they allowed the resolution to pass
because it is “non-binding” and will have “no impact at all” as the US
continues to arm and support Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The
resolution declares that the Security Council “demands an immediate ceasefire
for the month of Ramadan, respected by all parties, leading to a lasting
sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release
of all hostages.”
US
Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield explained that, in the
view of the US, the “non-binding” resolution “put pressure on Hamas” for the
“release of the first hostage.” She added, “what this resolution means is that
a ceasefire of any duration must come with the release of hostages.”
White
House National Security spokesman John Kirby was even more explicit, saying,
“It is a non-binding resolution. So there’s no impact at all on Israel and
Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas.
“It
does not represent a change at all in our policy,” Kirby added.
Asked
by a reporter whether the US has “no longer got Israel’s back,” Kirby replied,
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course, we still have Israel’s
back. I mean, as you and I are speaking, we are still providing tools and
capabilities, weapons systems, so that Israel can defend itself.”
He
added that there is “no change by this non-binding resolution in what Israel
can or cannot do in terms of defending itself.”
In
other words, the United States will continue to provide weapons and funding for
Israel’s ongoing genocide, which has to date left over 40,000 people dead,
missing or injured and has destroyed or damaged most buildings in the Gaza
Strip.
American
imperialism has been the leading global enabler of Israel’s genocide in Gaza,
providing the Netanyahu government with weapons, funding, and diplomatic air
cover.
Earlier
this month, press reports revealed that the Biden administration has provided
over 100 separate arms transfer packages to Israel, each falling below a
minimum threshold for reporting to Congress.
The
secret weapons shipments include, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, “at
least 23,000 precision-guided weapons, including Hellfire air-to-ground
missiles, drones, and Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which turn unguided
bombs into ‘smart’ bombs,” as well as bunker-buster bombs.
In
response to the US’s failure to veto the resolution, Israeli Defense Minister
Yoav Gallant, who was in Washington to coordinate Israel’s planned assault on
Rafah, made it clear that Israel intends to move against the city where more
than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have been crammed together. “We will
operate against Hamas everywhere—including in places where we have not yet
been.” He added, “We have no moral right to stop the war while there are still
hostages held in Gaza.”
In
response to the UN vote, the Netanyahu government canceled a subsequent planned
meeting between Israeli cabinet members and White House representatives in
Washington.
“The
State of Israel will not cease firing. We will destroy Hamas and continue
fighting until every last hostage has come home,” Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign
minister, said in a statement on Twitter.
The
same day as the vote at the UN Security Council, Francesca Albanese, the United
Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Palestine, issued a
statement saying there is evidence to support the claim that Israel’s actions
in Gaza fit the criteria for genocide.
Her
report presents a devastating picture of the horrendous impact of the
US-Israeli genocide:
After five months of military
operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been
killed, including more than 13,000 children. Over 12,000 are presumed dead, and
71,000 injured, many with life-changing mutilations. Seventy percent of
residential areas have been destroyed. Eighty percent of the whole population
has been forcibly displaced. Thousands of families have lost loved ones or have
been wiped out. Many could not bury and mourn their relatives, forced instead
to leave their bodies decomposing in homes, in the street, or under the rubble.
Thousands have been detained and systematically subjected to inhuman and
degrading treatment. The incalculable collective trauma will be experienced for
generations to come.
In
the strongest language yet used by the UN in condemning the genocide,
Albanese’s report concludes that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that
the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.” She added
that Israel’s civilian and military leadership have attempted to “legitimize
genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.”
Critically,
Albanese pointed to the repeated statements of genocidal intent by Israeli
officials. She wrote, “In the latest Gaza assault, direct evidence of genocidal
intent is uniquely present. Vitriolic genocidal rhetoric has painted the whole
population as the enemy to be eliminated and forcibly displaced. 150
high-ranking Israeli officials with command authority have issued harrowing
public statements evincing genocidal intent.”
These
include the declarations by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that the
population of Gaza consists of “human animals” and the declaration by Israeli
President Isaac Herzog that “an entire nation out there … is responsible” for
the October 7 attack, adding that Israel would “break their backbone.”
In
the midst of these developments, Israel is preparing its planned ground
offensive against Rafah with a systematic bombing campaign. On Monday, Israel
bombed a house in Rafah, killing at least 15 people, including at least four
children.
UN
demand for Gaza cease-fire provokes strongest clash between US and Israel since
war began
March 25, 2024
UNITED NATIONS
(AP) — The United Nations Security Council on Monday issued its first demand
for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the U.S. angering Israel by abstaining from the
vote. Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level
delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war
began.
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled
position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on
the release of hostages held by Hamas.
White House
national security spokesman John Kirby said the administration was “kind of
perplexed” by Netanyahu’s decision. He said the Israelis were “choosing to
create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that.”
Kirby and the
American ambassador to the U.N. said the U.S. abstained because the resolution
did not condemn Hamas. U.S. officials chose to abstain rather than veto the
proposal “because it does fairly reflect our view that a cease-fire and the
release of hostages come together,” Kirby said.
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