T. Belman. This is good news for Israel. The more the UN discredits itself in the eyes of the US, the more the US will fight them.
Jason Greenblatt, the US Special Representative for International Negotiations, on Thursday criticized the UN after it failed to approve a US-drafted resolution condemning the Hamas terrorist organization.
“Absolutely shameful!! UN failed to condemn Hamas even after years of attacks via suicide bombings, kidnappings, missiles, and more against Israelis. The applause after the vote says it all. Hamas hurts Israelis, Palestinians and peace. When will the UN speak the truth???” tweeted Greenblatt.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo similarly criticized the global body for failing to condemn Hamas.
“Just days after Hamas indiscriminately fired thousands of missiles at Israel’s citizens, the UN could not muster a resolution condemning this band of terrorists. This is yet another disgraceful act of bias toward the Jewish State,” he tweeted.
While the US resolution achieved a majority of 87 countries that voted in favor, that majority was not a two-thirds majority and thus the resolution was not approved.
57 countries voted against the resolution, and 33 countries abstained.
Despite the fact that the resolution was not approved, Israel’s UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, described the vote as one that brought Hamas to justice.
“We achieved a plurality. That plurality would have been a majority if the vote had not been hijacked by a political move of procedure. But in one strong, courageous voice, we have brought Hamas to justice,” he said.
Hamas, meanwhile, welcomed the failure of the vote, labelling the result a “slap” to US President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The failure of the American venture at the United Nations represents a slap to the US administration and confirmation of the legitimacy of the resistance,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri said.
@ Michael S: Michael, Azerbaijan and Nigeria are both Muslim-majority countries.
I suspect that the four non-participating states were not forbidden to do so because they were in arrears (this power of the General Assembly has almost never been invoked) but because they were determined to offend absolutely no one with a position on the issue. Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan certainly don’t want to go out of their way to offend Russia or China, which threaten their national independence, but on the other hand they need American support to defend their indepence from these great powers. They face internal rebellions by radical Islamists. While they are angry that these groups are getting some sort of assistance from both Iran and Pakistan, they figure it is not in their interest to provoke them or other Muslim countries into giving more aid to the rebels. At the same time, they may hope for, or even be covertly receiving, some U.S. military assistance in crushing these rebellions, which is yet another reason for not offending the UNited States, As for Chad, it is seeking to reestablish relations with Israel. On the other hand, they don’t want to provoke other mUslim countries, such as Libya, into stepping up aid to the rebels. The governments of all four of these countries may also have wanted to avoid offending devout Muslims within these countries, for fear that they would then throw their support to the jihadist rebels.
Thus these four Muslim countries all had powerful reasons to run for cover by not participating at all in the vote.It is likely that the other non-participants had similar reasons for their non-participating behavior. They probably feared that any vote, even an abstention, would annoy either some foreign state with whom they desire friendly relations, or some domestic constituency.
@ Michael S:
Errata:
1. I missed the following African country which voted with us: Lesotho
2. Among Latin American countries, Venezuela voted with Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia and against the US and Israel
3. Non-Muslim countries voting against us included Veneuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia in Latin America, besides Marxist countries in Africa and Asia.
@ adamdalgliesh:
Hi, Adam
The following Muslim countries did not vote (I suppose, because they were in arrears of dues):
Chad, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan. North Korea was also in this category, as well as the following non-Muslim states:
Cambodia, Benin, Burundi, C African R, DR Congo, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Madagascar, Myanmar, St. Kitts & Nevis, Sao Tome-Principe, Seychelles, Togo
The only Muslim country that actively abstained, was Afghanistan. Countries voting with the US and Israel include:
All of Europe, except Belarus and Russia; and most of Latin America and the Caribbean, [all except Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Suriname; and Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia & St. Vincent-Grenadines, which abstained]
Japan also voted with us, along with Australia, Canada, Fiji, Georgia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, S. Korea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.
African countries voting with us included: Cabo Verde, Eritrea, Malawi and Rwanda. That’s all — very few.
Much of Africa and Asia abstained, including some Russian and Chinese allies. Those adamantly against us, besides the Muslims, were:
Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam,
Botswana, Congo R, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, S Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
You can see which Third World countries are the most Marxist, by their votes.
I should stress once more, that NATO ally Turkey voted, once again, with our enemies.
@ adamdalgliesh:
Brazil recently had an election for president. The new leader is very pro-US and pro-Israel.
It is also interesting that North Korea, although although always verbally abusive to Israel and which sells weapons to its enemies, chose to absent itself from the vote. So did several African countries, and two Muslim countries (Tadjikistan and I can’t remember the other one) although all of the other Muslim and Arab countries voted against the resolution. Perhaps North Korea decided not to offend the U.S. at this juncture of their negotiations with it. The African and the two Muslim states that absented themselves from the vote probably want good ties with Israel but prefer not to offend the Muslim block. JUst ducking the vote entirely apparently suited their pupose better than an abstention. It is a kind of super-abstention.
Getting a plurality, including nearly all of the European countries and some Latin American ones, to vote for the resolution is a moral victory. Whie most of these countries are not friends of Israel, it may have stuck in their craws to refuse to condemn terror attacks on innocent people.
The support from Brazil, one of the world’s largest and most populous countries, and one that has been stand-offish towards Israel for many years, is encouraging.
Here is the official tally of the vote:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dtw6PVcXgAAp5jB.jpg
The vote clearly shows the strongest religious and ideological enemies of the US. Even India and Japan abstained, whereas they usually vote against us; but Turkey was lock step with our enemies.