Men of God eh?

28 UN General Assembly condemns only Israel on Gaza, cancel American amendment to condemn Hamas as well

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning Israel for using excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force during the recent clashes at the Gaza border and calling for an international protection mechanism for the Palestinians.

The resolution, proposed by Algeria and Turkey, passed with 120 “yes” votes, 8 “no” votes and 45 abstentions. The countries that voted against the resolution were the US, Israel, Australia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Togo and the Solomon Islands.

The dramatic session saw the United States attempt to add a paragraph condemning Hamas as well, which was ultimately rejected on procedural grounds though it had a majority of votes.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, arguing that the draft was biased against Israel, proposed an amendment that would have added an explicit condemnation of the Hamas Islamic organization and its firing of rockets, promotion of violence at the Gaza border, and digging of tunnels to infiltrate into Israel.

But Algeria called for a “no-action motion,” which would have prevented a vote on the amendment. According to General Assembly rules, the motion was put to a vote of all member states. Surprisingly, 78 countries opposed Algeria’s move while only 59 supported it.

Haley’s amendment cleared with a small majority, 62 to 58, with 42 abstentions.

However, General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák, of Slovakia, ruled that a 2/3 majority was needed for an amendment to be added to a draft resolution.

Haley appealed his decision, which led the session to be adjourned for several minutes.

When the session reconvened, Lajčák put Haley’s appeal to a vote. 66 countries voted in favor, 72 opposed and 26 countries abstained, which meant that the original draft was put to a vote without the US amendment.

Haley condemned the final vote as a morally bankrupt judgement, but she also argued that the common practice of turning a blind eye to the UN’s anti-Israel bias is changing.


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