(LifeSiteNews) — An overwhelming majority of national government delegations voted at the United Nations on Tuesday to adopt a resolution demanding a ceasefire in the continued U.S.-backed Israeli attack upon Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Of the 193-member General Assembly, 153 nations supported the resolution with only 10 voting against it and 23 abstaining. Ambassadors and other diplomats throughout the chamber burst into applause when the final tally was displayed.
BREAKING: UN General Assembly ADOPTS resolution demanding immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, as well as immediate and unconditional release of all hostages
FOR: 153
AGAINST: 10
ABSTAIN: 23LIVE COVERAGEhttps://t.co/ZqtRtIawGx pic.twitter.com/rAdk8BEmDL
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) December 12, 2023
Joining the U.S. and Israel in opposing the ceasefire were Austria, Czechia, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, and Paraguay.
The vote represented a further isolation of the United States and Israel as a similar measure on October 27 gained the support of 121 national delegations with 14 opposing and 44 abstaining.
Titled, “Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations,” the resolution expresses “grave concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population, and emphasizing that the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
The measure, drafted by Egypt with dozens of co-sponsors, goes on to demand “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” reaffirming the requirements that “all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians.”
It also demands “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access.”
This new vote represents a significant increase in support for a ceasefire among U.N. member states over late October with 33 more nations having voted in favor, four fewer voting against and the number of abstentions dropping by half.
Currently, reports indicate that since the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza began on October 7 approximately 18,608 Palestinians have been killed including 6,121 women and 7,870 children, with 50,594 injured, and an estimated 8,000 more missing and presumed to be trapped or dead under the rubble. Additionally, around 1.9 million people have been displaced (approximately 85 percent of the population).
READ: Col. Macgregor: The ‘top priority’ for Israel is to make Gaza ‘unlivable,’ expel all survivors
Considering these numbers in a broader context, Israel has currently killed around 80 percent more Palestinians since October 7 than they had in the previous 22 years combined. Additionally, they have killed almost twice as many civilians (as distinct from military casualties) in just 67 days than died in 20 months due to the Russia-Ukraine war, on both sides of that conflict (9,701).
As a result of the Hamas attack on October 7, Israel has reported around 1,200 fatalities (including 36 children) and approximately 5,431 injured, though it remains unclear how many of these deaths and injuries were caused by friendly fire from the Israeli military themselves.
In a dramatic move last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter for the first time since his tenure began in 2017. This provision allows the Secretary-General to force a discussion of the Security Council when he believes “international peace and security” is at risk.
In so doing, Guterres sought to “avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza with “potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”
After this historic appeal, thirteen members of the fifteen-member body voted in favor of a ceasefire, with the U.K. abstaining and the United States, as a permanent member, vetoing the binding resolution.
In response, the General Assembly resumed its tenth “emergency session” under which the body can convene within 24 hours, should the Security Council “fail to exercise its primary responsibility” for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Though unlike resolutions from the Security Council, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding on nations, though they do wield a significant moral and political weight manifesting the judgment and resolve of the world’s nations which, on this crucial issue, has remained consistently overwhelming and lopsided, in favor of the Palestinian cause, for decades.
In a Tuesday interview, former weapons inspector and U.S. Marines Officer Scott Ritter complained to Judge Andrew Napolitano that the U.S. is “violating everything we stand for in backing Israel. This is just open genocide that’s taking place against the Palestinian people. It is so flagrant and so condemnable that the entire world has turned against us.”
“We vetoed a resolution calling for a cease fire in the Security Council that was prompted by a once in a lifetime intervention of a secretary general on behalf of the Palestinian people,” Ritter admonished. “Now what we’re seeing is that this General Assembly of the United Nations is using a very rarely used provision, Article 377, basically because the Security Council has failed to do its job, [and, thus] the General Assembly is taking up this issue.”
The nation is now “in unchartered territory where America truly is the bad guy in the world and recognized as such because of what we are doing with Israel,” the author of several books said. In providing diplomatic cover in the Security Council, along with enormous levels of weaponry, the U.S. is “now linked with Israel in terms of implementing policies that are, by definition, war crimes.”
“The problem is Congress is bought and paid for by Israel,” Ritter continued. “This is why the American Congress will not hold the president accountable for violating the rule of law, for violating the Constitution, for violating the laws of the land in supporting Israel.”
In recent years, the Israel lobby has been increasingly acknowledged as the driving force which has invincibly secured the virtually unconditional support of the United States for Israel’s ongoing violations of international law, both financially and diplomatically, even to the exclusion of authentic American interests.
READ: Journalist Max Blumenthal breaks down Israel’s massive influence over US foreign policy
“Israel getting beat by Hamas in Gaza is not a national security threat to the United States of America. It may be a problem for Israel, but Israel ain’t America. That’s the one thing people have to start understanding,” the former marine said.
And after going through a litany of how Israel has abused its relationship with the United States through their attacking of the U.S.S. Liberty in 1967 killing 34 soldiers, and multiple cases of spying on the U.S., Ritter implored, “America, please wake up. Israel is not our friend… Israel provides nothing to the United States. It costs us money. And right now, it’s destroying our reputation even worse than we already have around the world. We are more isolated today than we have been at any time in modern history.”
Jews joined today’s flood the #UN for #Gaza rally, outside the UN HQ in New York City, while #UNGA session took place demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza#GazaGenocide#GazaHolocaust#GazaZionistGraveyard #IsraelIsATerroristState #PalestineLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/HqUP0kevgm
— Neturei Karta USA (@NetureiKartaUS) December 13, 2023
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