Gaza Resolution Betrays Moral Bankruptcy and American Subservience
The United Nations has again displayed its utter fecklessness and moral bankruptcy in adopting a disgracefully watered-down resolution on Gaza. Cravenly bowing before American might, it has abandoned even a pretence of leadership amidst unconscionable slaughter.
Introduced by the UAE, the original draft urged an “urgent suspension of hostilities” to allow humanitarian access. But the noble UN could not countenance even this mealy-mouthed criticism of Israel, lest it displease Washington.
So the text was gutted of any calls for meaningful accountability. The cessation of violence vital to saving lives was removed entirely. Spineless capitulation to US prerogatives won out over principle.
The resolution finally passed after a week of haggling is an insult to innocent Palestinians and the very notion of global justice. Vaguely worded and completely unenforceable, it is a mockery of moral courage from an institution sworn to uphold peace.
Washington and Tel Aviv remain opposed to a ceasefire, believing it would benefit Hamas. The US has now thrice blocked council ceasefire resolutions over the course of the conflict.
The US and Russia ultimately abstained from voting.
The resolution adopted today omits any call for an immediate truce. Instead, it uses vague terminology pressing for “urgent steps” towards “conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
The resolution demands “urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” amid dire warnings from international aid groups and pressure from global officials for an end to the siege.
Critics have decried the text as cowardly and meaningless, given it cannot compel either side to stop fighting. With Israel widening its ground offensive despite the talks, UN action looks set to remain toothless.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN said: “Enhancing UN monitoring or coordination of aid is not a cure all,”
“And any enhancement of UN aid monitoring cannot be done at the expense of Israel security inspections. Israel not only has a right but an obligation to guarantee its security. This is why our mission to eliminate Hamas has capabilities has not changed. And this is why security inspections of aid will not change,” he added.
“Just as this council is committed to increasing aid, it should also be committed to blocking the smuggling of arms and transfer weapons to the Hamas terrorists. And just as this council is committed to ensuring aid reaches Gazan civilians, It should also be committed to ensuring the…aid…is not diverted…[to] terrorists who do not care about the civilian population,” he added.
“It should be focused on freeing the hostages. It should be focused on preventing Hamas from exploiting aid. It should be focused on ensuring Hamas can no longer expand the terror infrastructure. Any resolution adopted by this council should be focused primarily on these points and this is the council’s responsibility,” he added.
In layman’s terms, the aid will pile up at the border while Israel carries out checks…
The carnage meanwhile continues unabated in Gaza, with the UN warning of imminent widespread famine. Half a million face starvation amidst the devastation, which has seen a third of all buildings destroyed.
The resolution comes after 11 devastating weeks of Israeli bombardment that has killed over 20,000 Palestinians – nearly 1% of Gaza’s pre-war population – and displaced 85% of residents.
Diplomats have justified the weak resolution as the only viable option to increase aid flows. But the removal of ceasefire demands under US pressure has prompted accusations of moral bankruptcy.
And so the UN shrieks impotently from the sidelines, as the bombs fall on Gaza and the corpses pile higher. This useless talking shop dares not challenge the Imperial might of the US or the jackboots of Israel, emasculated it sits on the sideline.
This failure shames the institution to its core. How can global stability be upheld when the world’s leading powers can act with impunity? The rules-based order lies in tatters as the UN is rendered a passive observer to atrocity.
Humanity should weep for Gaza, and for the frailty of an international system that watches, wrings its hands, yet will not act.
This Christmas, the supposed birthplace of Jesus Christ rings not with tidings of comfort and joy, but with explosions and screams of the dying. The Holy Land weeps for its children, while the leaders of nations avert their gaze.
The suffering people of Gaza, their homes in ruins, lives destroyed, must be sacrificed on the altar of geopolitics. The UN now exists only to offer a pretence of action, a fig leaf to cover the inaction of the powerful.
What a debased age this is, when the civilised world’s highest authority can only whisper and tremble as innocents die. And all we are left with is the booming cry of Long live America, long live the empire.
The lessons of history warn that appeasement and inertia will lead only to greater tragedies. But the leaders of the free world lack even this courage.
