{"id":37747,"date":"2024-11-21T12:09:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T20:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=37747"},"modified":"2024-11-21T12:09:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T20:09:39","slug":"in-14-1-un-security-council-vote-lone-us-veto-kills-gaza-cease-fire-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/21\/in-14-1-un-security-council-vote-lone-us-veto-kills-gaza-cease-fire-resolution\/","title":{"rendered":"In 14-1 UN Security Council Vote, Lone US Veto Kills Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"U.S.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood raises his hands to veto a draft resolution during a United Nations Security Council meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on November 20, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 (Photo: Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. government, said one human rights lawyer, “proves once again to the world that it is fully committed to the continuation of the genocide in Palestine.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JESSICA CORBETT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov 20, 2024 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration faced fierce criticism on Wednesday after using its veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block a resolution<\/a> demanding an immediate, unconditional, and permanent cease-fire in Israel’s assault on the Gaza<\/a> Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vetoed measure also called for all parties to implement a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution<\/a> passed in June\u2014which would lead to the release of all hostages\u2014and to enable Gaza civilians’ immediate access to basic services and humanitarian assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jess Peake, who directs the International and Comparative Law Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, condemned<\/a> the U.S. decision as “absolutely unforgivable” while Nina Turner<\/a>, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy, declared<\/a> that “this is absurd.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mai El-Sadany, executive director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, D.C., called it<\/a> “yet another shameful abuse of the UNSC veto by the U.S. to perpetuate a war that violates U.S. law and U.S. international legal commitments.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Today’s message is clear to the Israeli occupying power\u2014you may continue your genocide… with complete impunity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights attorney Craig Mokhiber, who last year resigned<\/a> as the New York director for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights over the United Nations’ response to Gaza, said<\/a> Wednesday that “the U.S. has just vetoed another cease-fire resolution in the U.N. Security Council, and, in doing so, proves once again to the world that it is fully committed to the continuation of the genocide in Palestine<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mokhiber also called for action at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where there is no U.S. veto power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Even as we seek accountability for Israeli perpetrators, we must also seek accountability for complicit U.S. actors,” he said. “Israeli\/U.S. impunity threatens the entire world. And the U.N. must now move to take concrete action in the UNGA.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 14-1 vote at the UNSC marked the fourth time the United States has blocked a Gaza resolution since Israel<\/a> began its retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. All five permanent members of the Security Council\u2014the U.S., the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China\u2014have veto power. The other seats are filled on a rotating basis and lack that authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/shashikaLB\/status\/1859263592995905689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1859263592995905689%7Ctwgr%5E13cd10c97446f44896b9d91647c30dec8e451b96%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fus-vetoes-un-security-council<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 10 nonpermanent members\u2014Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, and Switzerland\u2014were behind<\/a> the push to pass this draft resolution. Those who supported it represent “the collective will” of the international community, Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama said after the vote, according to<\/a>U.N. News<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is sad day for the Security Council, for the United Nations, and the international community as a whole,” Bendjama said, stressing that it has been “five months since the adoption of Resolution 2735<\/a>, five months during which the Security Council remained idle\u2014remained hand-tied.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Today’s message is clear to the Israeli occupying power\u2014you may continue your genocide… with complete impunity. In this chamber\u2014you enjoy immunity,” he added. “To the Palestinian people, another clear message\u2014while the overwhelming majority of the world stands in solidarity with your plight, others remain indifferent to your suffering.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel faces a South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its assault on Gaza, which as of Wednesday has killed at least 43,985 Palestinians, according to<\/a> local officials. Another 104,092 people have been wounded, and most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents have been repeatedly displaced as Israeli forces have devastated civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood said Wednesday that “we made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This resolution abandoned that necessity,” he argued. “For that reason, the United States could not support it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. government has been widely accused of complicity in genocide for arming Israeli forces over the past 13 months\u2014including by progressives in Congress. Sen.\u00a0Bernie Sanders<\/a>\u00a0(I-Vt.) on Wednesday planned to force a vote on resolutions that would block American weapons sales to Israel on the grounds that they violate federal law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JESSICA CORBETT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood raises his hands to veto a draft resolution during a United Nations Security Council meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on November 20, 2024.  (Photo: Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images) The U.S. government, said one human rights lawyer, “proves once again to the world… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37748,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37747\/revisions\/37748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}