‘No to Ceasefire’ – US Vetoes UNSC Resolution Aimed at Ending Gaza Slaughter

February 20, 2024 Blog, News
For the third time, the US vetoed a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. (Image: Palestine Chronicle)

This is the third time that the US has prevented international consensus from ending the Israeli slaughter in Gaza, which began on October 7.

For the third time since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, the US thwarted an attempt to bring about a ceasefire in the Strip, though more than 100,000 Palestinians have been killed and wounded, and many are reportedly starving to death. 

The draft resolution put forward by Algeria “received widespread support in the Council with 13 of its 15 member states voting in favor,” Anadolu agency reported.

It added that “the US was the sole nation to vote against it, and as a permanent Council member, its opposition killed the resolution. The UK, another permanent member, abstained.”

To divide the consensus on the draft, the US, on Monday, pushed for an alternative draft that called for a “temporary truce”,  as soon as practicable. 

The US draft “failed to gain traction with diplomats,” Anadolu reported.  

Third Time 

This is the third time that the US has prevented international consensus from ending the Israeli slaughter in Gaza, which began on October 7, following the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Flood operation. 

Though Algerian diplomacy was successful in ensuring a majority vote on the draft, the American intervention once again prevented a move that could have spared thousands of Palestinian lives. 

A US vote in opposition signals support for “murder and hatred,” Algeria’s UN ambassador Amar Bendjama said before the vote, adding,

“A vote in favor of this draft resolution is a support to the Palestinians’ right to life. Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted upon them .. Each one of us decides where we stand in this tragic chapter of history.”

Even after the vote, the Algerian diplomat refused to give us. “Algeria will return to knock on the doors of the Security Council once again to call for putting an end to the bloodshed in Palestine.”

Getting Away with Murder

Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent representative, was quoted by Anadolu as saying that Washington’s veto sends a message to Israel “that it can continue to get away with murder.”

“Israel cannot, and should not, and will not, get away with it. We will not allow it,” he said.

“This veto does not absolve Israel of its obligations, nor of those who shield it. Not here in the Security Council. Not in the ICJ, and not anywhere. Even if the Security Council continues to shirk its responsibilities to be obstructed by the veto of a permanent member over and over. The other organs of the international system are upholding their responsibilities.” 

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

The genocide continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 29,195 Palestinians have been killed, and 69,170 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

(AA, PC)

    Learn More     Watch Video
(The Palestine Chronicle is a registered 501(c)3 organization, thus, all donations are tax deductible.)
Our Vision For Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out

Related Articles

4 Comments

  1. Adolf who???
    America armed and financed the Nazis in WW2, and recently in Ukraine. They still support Nazis today, in Israel. Israeli nationalism + socialism = ????

  2. As an American citizen I apologize from the bottom of my heart that the USA is still supporting the genocide in Gaza, I do not support this. I wish I could help somehow. I am outraged and stunned that the US government still is supporting the genocide.

  3. Rule of the Security Council re veto of just one permanent member should be abandoned, majority votes should prevail as in an honest election and discourse. Again, this veto isolated Genocide Joe and USA vs the world. Down with genocide, ceasefire now, Free Palestine!

Comments are closed.