The U.N. Security Council unanimously
passed a resolution that demands a ceasefire for the rest of the Muslim
holiday of Ramadan and the release of all hostages being held captive by
Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Washington abstained in the 14-0 vote on
Monday. As one of the council’s permanent members, the United States
could have vetoed the resolution, which the 10 elected, non-permanent
members (E10) of the council drafted and circulated.
The resolution “demands an immediate
ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a
lasting ceasefire and also demands the immediate and conditional
release of all hostages.”
It also demands compliance with
international law in the treatment of detainees and emphasizes the
urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and demands
that barriers preventing that be lifted.
Ramadan lasts for about another two weeks.
The resolution appears to leave it open to
interpretation whether the ceasefire and the release of Israeli
hostages are connected.
Prior to the vote, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to cancel a high-level Israeli delegation
to Washington if the United States did not veto the resolution. After
the vote, Netanyahu confirmed that he canceled the delegation.
The delegation was to discuss the Jewish
state’s plans for a military operation in the southernmost city of
Rafah, according to Israel, while Washington had said the discussion
would be about alternatives to a military operation there.
The Israeli mission to the United Nations declined to comment to JNS ahead of the vote.
The resolution is only the third of 10
upon which the council has voted about the Israel-Hamas war to pass and
only the first focused on hostilities, rather than humanitarian aid. The
United States demanded a last-minute change, with a text change from
calling for a “permanent” ceasefire to a “lasting” one.
“Our vote does not represent a shift in
our policy,” John Kirby, White House national security communications
advisor, told reporters on Monday morning. “There is no reason for this
to be seen as some sort of escalation. There’s no reason for it to be an
escalation.”
Asked about how the resolution didn’t
represent a departure from prior U.S. policy, given it didn’t appear to
link the ceasefire and hostage release, Kirby rejected the
characterization of the question.
“I’ve looked at it. It does talk about the
need for an immediate ceasefire and an immediate release of the
hostages. That’s what we want,” he said. “Those are the same principles
that we’ve been arguing for now for many months.”
Kirby said he has no information about
Washington being notified about an Israeli delegation being canceled. He
noted that Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, is in Washington
today and tomorrow.
“He’s meeting with Secretary [of State
Antony] Blinken and he’s going to meet with Jake [Sullivan, the national
security advisor] and he’s also going to get a chance to meet with
Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin,” Kirby said. “I have no doubt that
in those discussions we will have ample opportunities to talk with him
about what’s going on with their planning in Rafah.”
“We were looking forward to having an
opportunity to speak to an Israeli delegation later this week,” Kirby
added. “I’ll let the Israelis speak to whether they’re coming or not.”
The
U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 2728 (2024) 14-0, demanding an
immediate ceasefire to Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip during
Ramadan and immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel and
being held in Gaza, with Washington abstaining, March 25, 2024
‘We did not agree with everything’
Asked if the vote would impact the
already-scheduled meetings in Washington with Gallant that hadn’t yet
occurred, Kirby said, “Why don’t we have the meetings and see how they
go?”
“Those are pretty weighty meetings,” he said.
Washington has vetoed prior resolutions
and amendments calling for a ceasefire, stating that their passage would
upset or upend delicate Israel-Hamas negotiations.
While “acknowledging” ongoing brokered
negotiations, the resolution passed on Monday was worded to de-emphasize
those talks in favor of the urgency of a ceasefire.
The E10-drafted resolution was initially
slated to be voted upon on Friday morning but was pulled in favor of
negotiations over the weekend, leading to Monday’s vote.
Those negotiations led to coupling the
ceasefire and hostage release demands in the same paragraph, as opposed
to the original separation of the two, indicating Washington’s signaling
that the two should be of equal urgency and, possibly, tied together in
effect.
“Colleagues, we appreciated the
willingness of members of this council to take some of our edits and
improve upon this resolution. Still, certain key edits were ignored,
including our request to add a condemnation of Hamas,” stated Linda
Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, explaining
Washington’s abstention.
“We did not agree with everything in this
resolution. For that reason, we were unfortunately not able to vote
yes,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “We fully support some of the critical
objectives in this nonbinding resolution. And we believe it was
important for the council to speak out and make clear that any ceasefire
must come with the release of all hostages. “
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