UN votes 124-14 to strip Israel of right to self-defense in Gaza, West Bank
Source: JPost.com – Homepage
The United Nations General Assembly voted 124-14 on Wednesday to strip Israel of the right to self-defense in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.
The test of the resolution was based on the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion in July that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory was illegal.
Prior to the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he supported the ICJ option and would abide by the vote, which calls on the IDF to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines within 12 months.
Calls to ban selling military equipment to Israel
The resolution also calls on member states not to sell arms or military equipment to Israel that would be used in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem.
The text does not mention Hamas, the October 7 invasion of Israel, or the remaining 101 hostages in Gaza. It makes no requirements on Hamas or the Palestinians with regard to attacks on Israel.
Those who voted against the resolution were: Argentina, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Hungary, Israel, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papa New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu and the United States.
Among the 43 countries that abstained were Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Some 12 of the 27 European Union countries abstained, including Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.
New Zealand supported the resolution as did 13 EU nations such as Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Canadian Ambassador to the UN in New York Bob Rae blasted the resolution, despite his country’s abstention even though he said his government respected the role of the ICJ and agreed with a number of tenets of the document, including an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.
“Canada cannot support a resolution where one party, the state of Israel, is held solely responsible for the conflict,” Rae said.
“There is no mention in the resolution of the need to end terrorism, for which Israel has serious and legitimate security concerns,” he stated.
“Canada is concerned that this resolution contains language that aligns with [the] Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [movement], which Canada firmly opposes. This effort seeks to uniquely isolate Israel,” he stated.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry charged that the resolution was “disconnected from reality, encourages terrorism and harms the chances for peace” by ignoring Israel’s real security concerns, particularly in the aftermath of the Hamas October 7 attack. This resolution “is what being disconnected looks like; this is what cynical international politics looks like,” the Foreign Ministry said.
It strengthens “Hamas terrorist organization and the Iranian terrorist state that stands behind it. The resolution sends a message that terrorism pays off and yields international resolutions. The decision only encourages Hamas’ rejectionism with regards to the deal for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire and further distances the possibility of reaching such a deal,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
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