The self-styled masters of the world, the United States of America, yesterday vetoed another UN resolution calling for a “ceasefire” in Palestine, timetabled by the United Arab Emirates.

“If adopted, the resolution would also have requested the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, in addition to ensuring humanitarian access,” notes the UN website [1].

The text drafted by the UAE ambassador received the support of 13 Council members (out of 15), including three permanent members (China, France, and the Russian Federation), and the abstention of another permanent member (the UK).

It was UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres himself who requested that a resolution be discussed urgently.

Before the vote, Emirati ambassador Mohamed Issa Abushahab pointed out that the draft resolution submitted by his country had received the backing of no less than 97 member states in just 24 hours and that in the 63 days of conflict, Israel had already killed more than 18,000 people. Among others, Spain, Belgium, etc., even the president of Ireland a few weeks ago requested an end to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Russian Ambassador Dmitry A. Polyanskiy, expressing his full support for the resolution, recalled that for “two months the UN Security Council has not fulfilled its role because of the obstinate, selfish and destructive position of the United States, which does everything to protect its ally”.

The result of the US boycott of all UN resolutions is “a graveyard of Palestinian children”.

US Ambassador Robert A. Wood responded by saying that for his country (and its ally Israel, of course), the goal is the destruction of Hamas. Already in October, the US had vetoed a similar resolution tabled by Brazil.

The rest, including children, do not count or come after.

“In the face of unspeakable misery, this Council is incapable of calling for a ceasefire,” lamented Ambassador Abushahab (UAE), disappointed by the outcome of the vote and thus by the US veto. On the other hand, the UN is unable to make Israel comply with even its 75-year-old resolution providing for the state of Palestine.

The UN and its Security Council, the Arab ambassador concluded, “seem detached from its founding document” [2].

Yes, the Gaza massacre is a symbol of the failure of democracy.

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Sources and notes:

[1] United Nations (UN), 8 December 2023, “Security Council Fails to Adopt Resolution Demanding Immediate Humanitarian Ceasefire in Gaza on Account of Veto by United States”.

[2] UN Charter, Art. 1.

“The purposes of the United Nations are:

1.1 – […] to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace […];

1.2 – To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for and the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, […];

1.3 – […] to promote and encourage respect for human rights […]”.