US, UK vote against Russia's UN resolution condemning Israeli actions in Gaza

The UN Security Council failed again Wednesday to address the IsraeliPalestine war in Gaza rejecting rival United States and Russian resolutionsThe resolution drafted by the United States Israelrsquos closest ally would have reaffirmed Israelrsquos right to selfdefense urged respect for international laws mdash especially protection of civilians mdash and called for ldquohumanitarian pausesrdquo to deliver desperately needed aid to GazaIn Wednesdayrsquos vote in the 15member council 10 countries voted in favor Russia China and the United Arab Emirates voted against and Brazil and Mozambique abstained The resolution was not adopted because permanent council members Russia and China cast vetoesThe Russian resolution which was then put to a vote would have called for an immediate ldquohumanitarian ceasefirerdquo and unequivocally condemned Hamasrsquo Oct 7 attacks in Israel and ldquoindiscriminate attacksrdquo on civilians and civilian objects in GazaIn that vote four countries voted in favor ndash Russia China United Arab Emirates and Gabon The United States and United Kingdom voted against and nine countries abstained The resolution wasnrsquot adopted because it failed to get the minimum nine ldquoyesrdquo votesThe failure of the two resolutions followed the councilrsquos rejections last week of a Russian resolution that didnrsquot mention Hamas and also failed to get nine ldquoyesrdquo votes and a widely supported Brazilian resolution vetoed by the United States that would have condemned the Hamas attacks and all violence against civilians and called for ldquohumanitarian pausesrdquoAfter the votes Maltarsquos UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier speaking on behalf of the 10 elected members of the council serving twoyear terms announced they will be working on a new proposal in the coming daysAlso read Their party is Hamas Sanjay Raut on Shindes Dussehra rally jibeldquoAs elected members of this council we also represent the rest of the international community and we have a duty and an obligation to actrdquo she told the council ldquoThere is no time to wasterdquoBefore the vote US Ambassador Linda ThomasGreenfield told the council that last week she had said diplomacy needed to play out before it approved a resolution She pointed to action by UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres President Joe Biden and regional leaders that led to the opening of the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza to the delivery of some desperately needed humanitarian aid though ldquomuch much more help is neededrdquo as well as the release of four of the more than 200 hostages taken from IsraelThomasGreenfield called this moment a test for the international community and for the council She accused Russia of introducing a resolution at the last minute ldquoin bad faithrdquo with no consultations and urged members to vote for the ldquostrong and balancedrdquo US textRussiarsquos UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia countered that an immediate humanitarian ceasefire is needed to deescalate the conflict and reduce the bloodshed and ldquoshockingrdquo Palestinian casualties He called the US draft ldquopoliticizedrdquo and claimed the United States doesnrsquot want the Security Council to have any influence on a possible Israeli ground offensive that ldquowould risk provoking an even largerscale conflict in the region and possibly even beyondrdquoAfter the vote Chinarsquos UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said the US draft contained many elements that went beyond humanitarian needs and were ldquodeeply divisiverdquo He called it ldquoevasive on the most urgent issue of ending the fightingrdquo and said it failed to reflect the worldrsquos strong calls for a ceasefireUnited Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh the Arab representative on the council who voted against the US resolution and for the Russian draft said the UN and humanitarian organizations have made clear that what is essential is a humanitarian ceasefire the release of all hostages and sustained humanitarian access to GazaAt a council meeting on the war Tuesday that heard nearly 90 speakers there were ldquodozens of statements imploring this council to assign the same value to Palestinian life as it does to Israeli liferdquo Nusseibeh said ldquoWe cannot allow any equivocation on this pointrdquoIsraelrsquos UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan thanked the US and other nations that supported its resolution for condemning ldquosavage genocidal terrorists while standing up for the values of freedom and securityrdquoThose who voted against the resolution showed the world the Security Council is incapable of condemning ldquoterrorists and cannot confirm the right to self defense of the victim of these heinous crimesrdquoRiyad Mansour the Palestinian UN ambassador told the Associated Press after the vote ldquoitrsquos disgusting the Security Council is not shouldering its responsibilityrdquo to ldquostop the warrdquoldquoYou do not start by killing the people and then say that I want to deal with the situationrdquo he said ldquoWe need to save lives hellip That is the most urgent priorityrdquo With inputs from agencies