U.S. Fails to Veto UN Security Council Resolution on ‘Cessation of Hostilities’ in Gaza

The United States abstained from a United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution that passed 13-0 on Friday calling for “creating the conditions” for a “cessation of hostilities” in Gaza — and failing to condemn the Hamas terror organization.

As the Times of Israel noted, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, blasted the resolution (full text here) for failing to condemn Hamas: “Why is it so hard to condemn Hamas for slaughtering young people at a concert, for butchering families alive, for the reports of widespread sexual violence. I will never understand why some council members have remained silent in the face of such evil.”

However, the U.S. did not exercise its veto of the resolution, which will have little effect on the war in any case.

The resolution did call for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. It also called for an expansion of humanitarian aid.

A UN Security Council vote on the crisis in Gaza had been delayed for several days while the U.S. negotiated with other countries, notably the United Arab Emirates, to water down the resolution so that it would not demand Israel obey an immediate ceasefire.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered a stirring rebuke of the world for not urging Hamas to surrender. “How can it be that there are no demand made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim [of terror]?” he said Thursday at the State Department.

However, the U.S. has failed thus far to introduce a resolution to that effect at the UN Security Council.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.