The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote Monday on a resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire to the Gaza war for the month of Ramadan that would convert to being a permanent one, based on a draft text from Friday seen by The Jerusalem Post.
The new text was put forward after a resolution authored by the United States failed to pass the Security Council on Friday, even though it had the support of 11 out of the 15 council members.
Russia, China, and Algeria voted against the text, while Guyana abstained.
The Russian and Chinese votes were more than enough to sink the resolution because those two superpowers are among five permanent council members who have veto power at the council.
The US resolution had also called for an immediate six-week pause to the war and the release of the remaining 134 hostages.
The Biden administration had hoped the resolution would shore up negotiations for a hostage deal taking place Friday in Qatar.
“We’ll continue to work toward a deal alongside Qatar and Egypt, and we will work with any council member that is seriously interested in adopting a resolution that will help make that deal possible,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UNSC after the vote.
No condemnation of Hamas
The new text also calls for the release of the hostages, but it doesn’t mention Hamas. The American text had condemned the terror group for its attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which over 1,200 people were killed and 253 people taken hostage. Many of the victims were burned, dismembered, raped and tortured.
Thomas-Greenfield said she was stunned by Security Council’s failure to adopt the American text, particularly given that the 15-member body has yet to condemn the October 7 attack.
“Russia and China still could not bring themselves to condemn Hamas as terrorist attacks on October 7. Can we just pause on that for a moment?” she said.
“Russia and China refuse to condemn Hamas for burning people alive, for gunning down innocent civilians at a concert, for raping women and girls, [and] for taking hundreds of people hostage,” the ambassador said, adding that “This was the deadliest single attack on Jews since the Holocaust.”
US ambassador to the UN says resolution's failure is "outrageous"
THOMAS-GREENFIELD said that the failure to adopt the resolution was “really outrageous, and it’s below the dignity of this body.”
She further charged that Hamas aside, Moscow and Beijing took this step purely because it was authored by Washington.
“This is not just cynical, it’s also petty. Russia and China simply did not want to vote for a resolution that was penned by the United States because it would rather see us fail than to see this council succeed,” she charged.
“Let’s be honest,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “For all the fiery rhetoric, we all know that Russia and China are not doing anything diplomatically to advance a lasting peace or to meaningfully contribute to the humanitarian response effort.”
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said the resolution was “exceedingly politicized” and contained an effective green light for Israel to mount a military operation in Rafah, a city on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip where more than half of its 2.3 million residents have been sheltering in makeshift tents.
“This would free the hands of Israel and it would result in all of Gaza and its entire population having to face destruction, devastation or expulsion,” Nebenzia told the meeting.
He said several non-permanent members of the Security Council had drafted an alternative resolution and that there was no reason for members not to support it.
China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun said the text proposed by the US was unbalanced and criticized it for not clearly stating its opposition to a planned military operation by Israel in Rafah in southern Gaza which he said could lead to severe consequences. He said Beijing also supported the alternative resolution.
Washington previously vetoed three draft resolutions, two of which would have demanded an immediate ceasefire.
Statements by Israel Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan
ISRAEL AMBASSADOR to the UN Gilad Erdan urged the UNSC to “hold Hamas accountable” and “condemn Hamas.”
Had the US resolution passed, Erdan said, “it would have marked a moment of morality for the UN – a place where good is evil, and justice is injustice. It would have been the very first time that this council – or any UN body – condemned Hamas and their brutal massacre.”
”Yet sadly, for purely political reasons, this resolution didn’t pass, and terrorists can continue benefiting from this council whitewashing their crimes.”
Erdan called the council’s decision to not condemn Hamas “a stain” that will never be forgotten.
He accused the UN of dedicating discussions only to the situation in Gaza and ignoring Hamas’s terrorist tactics, like exploiting civilians and allegedly falsifying statistics.
“Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic, but the only party to blame is Hamas. Yet the Security Council refused to hold Hamas accountable for deliberately putting Gazans in the line of fire,” Erdan said. “Condemn the tunnels under schools! Condemn the exploitation of hospitals for terror! Hold Hamas accountable!”
Erdan ended his speech by tying Saturday’s holiday of Purim with messaging to the current regime in Iran.
“The very same faith and conviction that the Jews of Persia displayed, has been carried with us to this day,” the ambassador said. “This is why we have survived and thrived, despite all of the decrees and racist resolutions against us throughout history. Many have tried to destroy us, but all have failed, because we will never surrender and we will always fight for our existence.”
Erdan added, “And if we are successful – if the hostages return home and Hamas is dismantled – then just as it says in the megillah, the text that we read on Purim: ‘The Jewish people had light and joy, gladness, happiness and honor.’”
After the vote, Palestinian Authority Ambassador Riyad Mansour said the US resolution was “one-sided” and that he rejected the framing of “what is happening as a terrorism issue. It is a genocide against the entire Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.”
Reuters contributed to this report.