Palestinian U.N. ambassador Riyad Mansour, background right, addresses members of the U.N. Security Council at United Nations headquarters Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution Wednesday that would have condemned violence against all civilians in the Israel-Hamas war including “the heinous terrorists attacks by Hamas” against Israel, and would have urged humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council on the resolution sponsored by Brazil was 12 votes in favor, the United States against, and Russia and the United Kingdom abstaining.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that President Joe Biden is in the region engaging in diplomacy to secure the release of hostages, prevent the conflict from spreading and stress the need to protect civilians. “We need to let that diplomacy play out,” she said.
She said resolutions are important and the Security Council must speak out, “But the actions we take must be informed by the facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy efforts that can save lives — the council needs to get this right.”
She also criticized the resolution for not saying anything about Israel’s right to self-defense following Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. Since then, the Gaza Health Ministry says nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 12,000 wounded.
Before the vote on the resolution, council members voted on two proposed Russian amendments. Both were rejected because they failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes. One called for a “humanitarian cease-fire” and the other would condemn indiscriminate attacks on civilians and “civilian objects” in Gaza, which include hospitals and schools. On Monday, the Security Council rejected a Russian-drafted resolution that included those amendments but made no mention of Hamas.
The voting and debate followed Tuesday’s huge explosion and fire at a Gaza City hospital packed with patients, relatives and Palestinians seeking shelter. The Hamas-run health ministry said at least 500 died. Israel and the Palestinians accused each other of being responsible for the hospital carnage. Hamas said it was from an Israeli airstrike. Israel blamed a misfired rocket by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad denied any involvement.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the Brazil resolution, which called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver aid, wouldn’t have helped to avoid Tuesday’s explosion at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds. “It is only a cease-fire that will help to do this,” he said.
He told council members who abstained or opposed the amendments – the U.S. voted against both – that they will have to “bear responsibility” for what happens now to people in their own countries, the region, “and the people who are living under this deadly threat.”
After the U.S. veto of the resolution, Nebenzia accused the United States of “hypocrisy” and “double standards,” saying the Americans didn’t want a solution in the Security Council.
The divided Security Council has been even more polarized since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and the votes on the Brazil resolution reflected the divisions.
Immediately after the votes and speeches, the council started an emergency meeting to discuss the explosion at the Gaza hospital. Russia, the United Arab Emirates and China called for the emergency session.
The council vote took place amid frantic diplomatic efforts to prevent the Israeli-Hamas conflict from spreading and Biden’s lightning trip to Israel where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
After the hospital blast, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas backed out of a meeting with Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and King Abdullah II of Jordan, leading the Jordanians to cancel the meeting,
The 22-member Arab Group at the United Nations expressed “outrage” at the hospital deaths and called for an immediate cease-fire to avoid further Palestinian casualties, the opening of a corridor to safely deliver aid to millions in Gaza, and the prevention of any forced evacuation of people from the territory.
Egypt’s U.N. ambassador, Osama Mahmoud, told reporters that a summit will take place Saturday in Cairo as scheduled with regional leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The five permanent Security Council nations are also invited, he said.
Mahmoud said the summit will address the humanitarian crisis sparked by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, how to achieve a cease-fire, and whether “any serious attempt to have a political horizon” exists to tackle the issues blocking an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
