World leaders, international rights groups and United Nations officials have criticized the United States for vetoing a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and for failed to end the war that has killed more than 17,400 Palestinians and around 1,100 people in Israel since October 7. .
A UN resolution on the pause in hostilities failed to succeed Friday at the UN Security Council after the United States vetoed the proposal and Britain abstained.
The remaining 13 of the current 15 members of the UN Security Council voted in favor of the resolution presented by the United Arab Emirates and co-sponsored by 100 other countries.
Here are some of the reactions:
Palestine
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the US veto made it “complicit” in war crimes in Gaza. “The President described the American position as aggressive and immoral, a blatant violation of all humanitarian principles and values, and holds the United States responsible for the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women and elderly people in the Gaza Strip,” declared its president. said the office.
Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the veto was “a disgrace and another blank check given to the occupying state to massacre, destroy and displace.”
The Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told the UN Security Council that the outcome of the vote was “disastrous”. “If you are against the destruction and displacement of the Palestinian people, you must oppose this war. And if you support it, you are allowing this destruction and displacement, regardless of your intentions… Millions of Palestinian lives are at stake. Every one of them is sacred and worth saving.
Hamas strongly condemned the US veto, saying it considers Washington’s decision “unethical and inhumane”. “The US obstruction of the adoption of a ceasefire resolution is direct participation of the occupation in the massacre of our people and the commission of more massacres and ethnic cleansing,” said Izzat al -Risheq, member of the Hamas political bureau, in a press release.
Israel
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan did not address the Security Council after the vote, but said in a statement: “A ceasefire will only be possible with the return of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas. »
UNITED STATES
Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the Council that the draft resolution was a rushed and unbalanced text “that was out of touch with reality, that would not move things forward on the ground in a concrete way “.
“We do not support this resolution’s call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only sow the seeds of the next war,” he said.
Amnesty International
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty The secretary general said on X that the US veto “demonstrates complete disregard for the suffering of civilians in the face of a staggering death toll.” The statement also said that Washington “brazenly used and instrumentalized its veto to strengthen the UN Security Council, thereby further undermining its credibility and its ability to fulfill its mandate of maintaining international peace and security.”
The US veto of the ceasefire resolution demonstrates complete disregard for the suffering of civilians in the face of a staggering death toll. It is morally indefensible, a dereliction of the United States’ duty to prevent atrocity crimes, and a complete failure of global leadership. Just terrible https://t.co/vl6Pv6Lcv6
– Agnès Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) December 8, 2023
Doctors Without Borders
Avril Benoit, general director of Médecins sans frontières (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) United States: “By vetoing this resolution, the United States is the only one voting against humanity. The American veto contrasts sharply with the values they claim to defend. By continuing to provide diplomatic cover for ongoing atrocities in Gaza, the United States is signaling that international humanitarian law can be applied selectively – and that the lives of some people matter less than those of others. The American veto makes them complicit in the carnage in Gaza.”
We are devastated by the failure of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza – blocked by a solitary US veto.
“By vetoing this resolution, the United States is the only one voting against humanity. »https://t.co/D2oIFaMoje
– Doctors Without Borders (@MSF_USA) December 8, 2023
Human Rights Watch
International rights groups have issued a statement saying: “By continuing to provide Israel with weapons (and) diplomatic cover while it commits atrocities, including collectively punishing the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, the United States risks being complicit in war crimes . »
Assignment on, former HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said: “The US government is vetoing the UN Security Council’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The United States invokes Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, but does Biden really think that hitting Palestinian civilians in Gaza achieves that? Where to build the next Hamas?
United Kingdom
Britain’s UN ambassador, Barbara Woodward, said her country abstained because the resolution did not condemn Hamas. “Israel must be able to confront the threat posed by Hamas and it must do so in a way that respects international humanitarian law so that such an attack can never be carried out again,” she said. at the UN Security Council.
United Arab Emirates
The UAE’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Mohamed Abushahab, asked the UN Security Council: “What message are we sending to the Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to end the bombing incessant attacks on Gaza? Indeed, what is the message we are sending to civilians around the world who might find themselves in similar situations? »
Iran
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned of the threat of an “uncontrollable explosion” of the situation in the Middle East after the US veto, the AFP news agency reported. “As long as America supports the crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) and the continuation of the war… there will be a possibility of an uncontrollable explosion of the situation in the region,” Amirabdollahian told the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, during a phone call. , according to a press release from the ministry.
China
Permanent Representative to the UN Zhang Jun told the Council: “Tolerating continued fighting while claiming to care about the lives and safety of Gaza residents is contradictory. It is misleading to condone continued fighting while advocating for the prevention of fallout from the conflict. It is hypocritical to condone the continuation of fighting while referring to the protection of women and children and human rights. All this shows us once again what double standards are.”
Russia
UN Ambassador Dmitri Polyanskiy said: “Our colleagues in the United States have literally handed down death sentences to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of additional civilians in Palestine and Israel before our eyes. »
France
UN Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière told the Security Council: “Unfortunately, once again, this council has failed because of a lack of unity, and by refusing to engage in negotiations, the crisis in Gaza worsens and the council does not complete its mandate. under the Charter.
Türkiye
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has questioned whether justice can be served after calls for a ceasefire were rejected. “The Israeli administration, which enjoys the unwavering support of Western countries, is committing murderous atrocities and massacres in Gaza that will make all humans blush… A just world is possible, but not with America, because America is side with Israel,” he said. on World Human Rights Day. “Reform of the United Nations Security Council is a necessity,” he added, asserting that the world is bigger than the five permanent members.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Turkish media: “America is now alone on this issue (of the war on Gaza), especially in the vote held today in the United Nations… The American political system is now powerless on related issues. in Israel. »
Oman
Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said in a message on X: “The use of the veto in the Security Council is a shameful insult to humanitarian standards. I deeply regret that the United States is sacrificing the lives of innocent civilians for the cause of Zionism. »
Malaysia
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim expressed his “strong objection” to the US veto of the resolution. “It is strange and beyond human reason when there are parties that support and remain silent in the face of the massacre of innocent children and women as well as civilians,” he posted on X.
Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance
“Mr. Biden, by vetoing 13 of the 15 calls for an immediate ceasefire made by members of the UN Security Council (as well as the cowardly abstention of the United Kingdom), you have joined the Hall of Fame recent war criminals, alongside George W. Bush and V. Putin. ” he said in a job on X.
Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand
“The United States has blocked the UN Security Council resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, apparently insensitive to the shocking death toll and the destruction of homes and infrastructure. community,” she said. job on X.
Craig Mokhiber, former head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York
“On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Genocide Convention, the United States once again vetoed the ceasefire at the UN Security Council, demonstrating its increased complicity in the #genocide in # Palestine. Thousands of people have died since his last veto and more will die now,” he said in a statement. job on X.
