The United States allowed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for pauses in the fighting within Gaza to pass despite a lack of condemnation for Hamas.
Fifteen members of the security council passed the resolution Wednesday, which calls for a cease-fire for a “sufficient number of days” in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. The resolution also calls for the “unconditional release” of hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Twelve members of the council voted in favor of the resolution, while the U.S., Russia and Britain, who have veto power, abstained from the vote Wednesday.
The resolution doesn’t include a condemnation of Hamas’ actions. It attempted to pass a resolution four times before the council was successful.
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Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in her explanation of the vote that the U.S., “could not vote yes on a text that did not condemn Hamas or reaffirm the right of all Member States to protect their citizens from terrorist attacks.”
“Although the United States is deeply disappointed by what is not in this text, we support many of the important provisions this Council has adopted,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “For starters, while this text does not include a condemnation of Hamas, this is the first time we have ever adopted a resolution that even mentions the word ‘Hamas.’”
Anne Bayefsky, director for the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, criticized the vote in a comment to Fox News Digital.
“In an outrageous display of moral chaos and diplomatic cowardice, the Biden administration threw Israel under the bus at the UN Security Council. Almost six weeks after the barbaric attacks of October 7th the Council has finally acted for the first time, and incredibly refused to condemn Hamas,” Bayefsky said. “The Council resolution said the hostages were ‘held by Hamas and other groups’ — not that they were raped, mutilated and kidnapped by Hamas. It never mentioned Israel’s UN Charter right of self-defense. It refers only to civilians ‘in Gaza’ and never in Israel. It never mentions ongoing rocket attacks against Israelis. And yet the Biden administration refused to veto it.”
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“The United States voted the same way as that moral stalwart Russia and merely abstained. It is shocking, morally bankrupt and bodes very badly for the future of humanity, since make no mistake: use of the United Nations to invert right and wrong is just as bad for Americans as it is for Israelis,” Bayefsky added.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan called the resolution, “disconnected from reality and is meaningless.”
“Regardless of what the Council decides, Israel will continue acting according to international law while the Hamas terrorists will not even read the resolution at all, let alone abide by it. It is unfortunate that the Council continues to ignore, not condemn, or even mention the massacre that Hamas carried out on Oct. 7, which led to the war in Gaza. It is truly shameful!” Erdan said. “Hamas’s strategy is to deliberately deteriorate the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and increase the number of Palestinian casualties in order to motivate the UN and the Security Council to stop Israel.Â
“It will not happen. Israel will continue to act until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned.”
