U.S. Vetoes Another U.N. Cease-Fire Resolution While Continuing To Arm Israel
HuffPost
The veto comes after the Biden administration announced that a U.S.-Israel panel looking into reports of civilian harm in Gaza will meet for the first time.
The United States has once again unilaterally vetoed a draft resolution by the United Nations Security Council that called for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza — a move that comes as the Biden administration spends its last months in office continuing to sell the weapons Israel is using to destroy the Palestinian territory.
The Security Council in New York voted 14-1 on Wednesday in favor of the resolution, but the veto blocked the council from adopting it due to the U.S.’s status as a permanent member.
In addition to demanding a cease-fire, the resolution would’ve demanded the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and would have urged Israeli forces to withdraw from the enclave and immediately restore access to humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians.
“I think it’s clear that the political rationale here is not actually to find a path to peace. That it’s not about saving innocent lives, and it’s not about ending the continued violence that is being perpetrated against Palestinian civilians,” Tariq Habash, a Biden appointee who resigned in protest of the administration’s Gaza policy, told HuffPost. “If it was, the veto would not have been used.”
That was echoed by Majed Bamya, the deputy permanent observer of the State of Palestine. But U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood argued that by not explicitly linking a cease-fire to the hostages’ release, the resolution would disincentivize Hamas from engaging in peace negotiations.
