US vetoes UNSC resolution forcing Israel to call an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

An attempt to force Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza was vetoed by the United States at the UN Security Council meeting on Friday.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said that the resolution proposed at the UNSC meeting was “divorced from reality” and he castigated the Council for failing to condemn the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas, in which 1,200 people were ruthlessly murdered, raped and slaughtered, and another 240 taken hostage into Gaza. 

“This Council’s failure to condemn Hamas’ October 7th terrorist attacks – including its acts of sexual violence and other unthinkable evils – is a serious moral failure. And it underscores the fundamental disconnect between the discussions that we have been having in this Chamber and the realities on the ground,” Wood said.

“An undeniable part of that reality is that if Israel unilaterally laid down its weapons today, as some Member States have called for, Hamas would continue to hold hostages. Women and children. Elderly men. Many of whom, according to survivor accounts, are being subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment.”

Wood stated that a ceasefire would allow Hamas to continue to rule Gaza and “only plant the seeds for the next war.”

“Hamas continues to pose a threat to Israel and remain in charge of Gaza. That is not a threat that any one of our governments would allow to continue to remain on our own borders. Not after the worst attack on our people in several decades," Wood continued.

"For that reason, while the United States strongly supports a durable peace in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire. This would only plant the seeds for the next war – because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution,” Wood said.

Thirteen members of the UN Security Council voted in favor of the resolution, while the United Kingdom abstained.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for “standing steadfastly” with Israel.

“A ceasefire is possible, only with the return of all the hostages and destruction of Hamas,” Erdan said.

CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Mark Dubowitz said that those who supported the resolution sided with Hamas.

“The UN has been a bastion of anti-Israel hatred for decades. Guterres and UN Women – a UN organization focused on gender equality and the empowerment of women – let weeks pass before even mentioning the sexual atrocities committed against Israeli women...Those who did not oppose this resolution are supporting Hamas, which is responsible with its terror patron in Iran for the deaths of civilians on both sides,” Dubowitz stated.

FDD Senior Advisor Richard Goldberg noted that UN Sec.-Gen. António Guterres has failed to condemn the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

“The UN rose from the ashes of the Holocaust with a promise of ‘Never Again.’"

“‘Again’ came on October 7, and this secretary-general did nothing. Every permanent member of the Security Council that opposes Hamas has a moral obligation to veto this resolution,” Goldberg said.

Guterres seemed to justify the Oct. 7 massacre by saying that it “did not happen in a vacuum.”