In the proposal submitted to the UN General Assembly by Jordan and the Arab countries, it is true that “condemns” all crimes against civilians, both against Palestinians and Israelis, and calls for “an immediate, permanent and sustainable humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities” as well as ” Unhindered provision of basic goods and services” to Gaza, writes Deutsche Welle.
But in the resolution that was accepted by the votes of 120 countries, there is not a single word about Hamas and the attack that caused this conflict. An amendment proposed by Canada, which specifically mentions Hamas and also calls for the “immediate” release of hostages held by Hamas, was not accepted either.
To that extent, for Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, it is a shameful document that the World Organization should be ashamed of: “This is a dark day for the UN and humanity. This ridiculous resolution has the moral to call for a truce. It’s goal is for Israel to stop defending itself against Hamas so that it can burn us alive,” said Erdan.
To that extent, Israel and of course, the USA voted against, but there were different views among the members of the EU and NATO: among the 14 countries that rejected the resolution were Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia, the majority – as well as Germany – abstained, but for this the resolution was voted by France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia.
The French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière, explains this by saying that “nothing can justify the killing of civilians”, that “we must work together to cease fire” and that “it is our duty to prevent the situation from worsening”, but also that the UN must demand the release of the hostages. The French ambassador adds that the resolution of the General Assembly “cannot compensate” the efforts of the Security Council of the World Organization, but in this case de Rivière actually points to the weakness of this structure of the United Nations.
According to DW, because even this two-thirds acceptance of a resolution of the General Assembly only means that there is an obligation to discuss it in the UN Security Council, where nothing can be concluded without the approval of the countries with the right of veto. There is a long list of resolutions accepted by the General Assembly – including the condemnation of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but after that almost nothing happened. On the other hand, the Israeli ambassador reminded that the General Assembly was never able to even condemn the existence of the so-called Islamic State and that it continues the sad tradition of the Council of Nations, which failed to stop even Nazi Germany before the beginning of the Second World War.
