‘Ceasefire’ or ‘Pause’? U.N. Security Council Holds Another Useless Meeting on Israel

The United Nations Security Council, currently presided over by communist China, held a closed-door meeting on Monday to address the Israel-Hamas war that once again resulted in no consensus, action, or statement by the U.N. body.

The Security Council, whose mission is “the maintenance of international peace and security,” has yet to issue a resolution or take any action in response to the gruesome October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that left 1200 civilians in Israel dead, many of them babies, children, elderly, and disabled people. Hamas terrorists used their base in Gaza to invade the country and kill entire families in door-to-door raids of residential communities.

Some terrorists filmed themselves desecrating corpses, killing, and torturing victims. At a music festival, the terrorists arrived and opened fire on concertgoers, leaving about 260 dead. Another 250 people are believed to be held hostage in Gaza.

Israel formally declared war on Hamas on October 8 and has been engaged in an operation to destroy legitimate Hamas terror targets in Gaza since then. Hamas has attempted to combat the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation by using Palestinian civilians as human shields, hiding its weapons and terrorists near schools and hospitals.

The U.N. Security Council has not condemned Hamas for its slaughter of innocents on October 7 as of press time. It has also resisted pressure from Hamas-allied nations on the Council to condemn Israel’s self-defense operations.

China – which holds both a permanent, veto-wielding seat on the Security Council and its presidency for the month of November – and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) called a private meeting of Council members on Monday in an attempt to get closer to a resolution opposing Israeli action in Gaza, but not reportedly condemning Hamas for its mass murder. According to U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood, who attended the meeting representing America, the meeting centered around whether to pass a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” to stop the IDF from diminishing Hamas’s ability to attack, or to call for a “humanitarian pause,” which would presumably be different from a “ceasefire.”

The meeting reportedly lasted over two hours.

“We talked about humanitarian pauses and we’re interested in pursuing language on that score,” the Associated Press quoted Wood as saying. “But there are disagreements within the council about whether that’s acceptable.”

The administration of President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for a “humanitarian pause” in Israel’s operations against Hamas, an idea that has proven unpopular with both supporters of Hamas and Israelis, as the difference between “pause” and “ceasefire” translates poorly into Hebrew.

“Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire that does not include the liberation of our hostages. Israel will not allow fuel into the Gaza Strip, and opposes the transfer of money into the Strip,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on November 3, responding to White House calls for a “pause.”

RELATED: Israel Releases Video of Hamas Attack on Civilian Evacuation Route

Israel Defense Forces

The parties to the meeting did not reportedly draft any resolutions or agree to any potential resolution language. The Security Council has failed to adopt four resolutions since October 7 on the Hamas conflict. The Hamas-friendly government of Russia introduced two resolutions calling for ceasefires and failing to condemn Hamas, which failed in their votes. Two resolutions received enough votes to pass: one by Brazil, which held the presidency of the Council in October, and one by the United States. The United States vetoed the Brazilian resolution on the grounds that it did not assert Israel’s right to self-defense. Russia and China vetoed the American resolution on the grounds that it did not call for a ceasefire.

The Security Council has not adopted a resolution on Israel since 2016.

“Faced with heinous terrorist acts against Israeli civilians, with the forceful reaction to such acts and an ever growing humanitarian disaster imposed on Gaza, the Council response we proposed was robust and balanced,” the Brazilian mission to the U.N. stated in October following the failure of its resolution to pass. “Sadly, very sadly, the Council was yet again unable to adopt a resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Again, silence and inaction prevailed. To no one’s true, long-term interest.”

“Council paralysis in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe is not in the interest of the international community,” its statement lamented.

Apparently losing patience with the body, China and the UAE issued their own joint statement on Tuesday demanding the Security Council adopt a “meaningful and actionable resolution.”

“We urge all parties to take steps urgently towards cessation of hostilities, to ensure the protection of civilians,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said. The statement also included a sentence plainly stating: “We condemn the 7th October attacks by Hamas on Israel.”

The Chinese communist regime, which is currently engaging in genocide against Muslim-majority ethnic groups in occupied East Turkistan, has invested much of its publicity effort this year in advertising itself as a legitimate peace broker in the Middle East. Beijing hosted a meeting in March that led to the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, for example, that paved the way for both countries to join the China-led BRICS coalition.

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On the Israel-Hamas conflict, Zhang announced upon assuming the presidency of the Security Council that Beijing’s priority will be to call for a ceasefire that benefits Hamas via resolution.

On Tuesday, asked about the Security Council meeting on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin asserted that the Communist Party “will continue to work with relevant parties to galvanize responsible Security Council action and play an active and constructive role in ceasing the hostilities, easing the humanitarian situation, and ultimately realizing durable Palestinian-Israeli peace through the two-state solution.”
The “two-state solution,” the carving out of a state of Palestine, is a core goal of the Hamas terrorist organization, one that China has enthusiastically repeated since October 7.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who blamed Israel for the October 7 atrocities by claiming they “did not happen in a vacuum,” has repeatedly pressured the parties to the conflict to adopt a ceasefire.

“The way forward is clear: Humanitarian ceasefire. Respect for int’l humanitarian law,” Guterres repeated in a message on Tuesday.

Editor’s Note:  This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.  The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.

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