The “imminent” ceasefire voted almost unanimously yesterday in the UN Security Council (14-0), with the only abstention of the United States, provoked the anger of Israel and accentuated the perception of this country's isolation.
Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu attacked Washington, his ally and protector and until now his shield against global criticism, for not having vetoed the resolution. The Israeli president canceled a visit by his advisors to Washington and described the US attitude as “withdrawal from a position of principle” and “retreat.”
Netanyahu had warned Washington not to allow that situation to come to pass and asked it to use the veto. But later he realized that his request had fallen on deaf ears. The message with which the White House responded was that patience has a limit.
The US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in an unprecedented step in this crisis, did not want to reject the proposal, a mandatory condition for the veto. In this way, after four failures (three by American veto and one by the Russia-China tandem last Friday), it made it easier for the executive arm of the United Nations to approve the “ceasefire demand” in the holy month. of Ramadan for Muslims, a period that ends on April 9.
This “demand” – a key word that avoids the term “demand” – links a direct request to stop the Israeli military operation, which has already caused 32,000 deaths, and the release of the 100 hostages that Hamas has held since October 7, when it attacked Israel and murdered 1,200 people. The document also demands that the distribution of humanitarian assistance be allowed, both for the distribution of food and to care for the wounded.
Another different thing is for the decision to come true. Israel has made it clear that it has no intention of complying. The Israeli Defense Minister. Yoav Gallant, who was in the US capital, replied: “We have no moral right to stop the war in Gaza until the hostages are home.”
The US abstention comes at a time of growing tensions between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu, who has publicly repeatedly rejected Washington's request that he not invade Rafah, south of Gaza, and has rejected the request to accept the creation of a state. Palestinian.
Thomas-Greenfield's arguments at UN headquarters in New York were amplified by her boss, Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “As the final text does not refer to the condemnation of Hamas, which is essential for us, we could not give support,” he said. “This failure to condemn Hamas is particularly difficult to understand just days after the world has once again witnessed a horrible terrorist act,” he said, referring to the armed attack at the concert hall near Moscow. But he agreed on the ceasefire and the release of hostages, in line with what his country negotiates in Qatar with Israel and Egypt.
There was applause in the room when the result was announced, the first time such a decision had been made after almost five months of war. “Today is a great day for the Middle East and to silence the guns,” congratulated the representative of Slovenia, one of the ten nations that endorsed the proposal led by Mozambique and Algeria.
Hours before the vote, António Guterres, UN Secretary General, had declared in Jordan that “we are seeing a growing consensus in the international community that tells the Israelis that the ceasefire is necessary, and I see it too. "I have heard the United States, the European Union, not to mention the Muslim world, telling Israel that the ground invasion of Rafah could mean a humanitarian disaster."
Consensus after four failures to request a ceasefire as a consequence of the devilish situation of international geopolitics. The US vetoed the proposal three times. Last Friday, Washington presented its own and Russia and China vetoed it.
“Israeli blood is cheap,” lamented the country's ambassador, Gilad Erdan. “The injustice ends now,” added Palestinian representative Riad Mansur. Gaza, in reality, is far from New York.
