Israel/Hamas War Superthread

[GMDino]

I guess they should have asked the resident experts in foreign policy? 

All seriousness aside Israel has made it clear this is no longer self defense and is now a war to destroy everyone and everything in Gaza.  This resolution only demands a cease-fire and places no blame on Israel for "starting" it.  (Honestly Netanyahu sounds like a child.)  BOTH sides should want their hostages back.  Israel should read the room and see that their plans are causing them to lose even more face with the rest of the world.

Does it mean Hamas will stop? No. Of course not.  But let's at least help the civilians and get the hostages exchanged and then they can got back to killing everyone, right?

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/25/1240669997/united-nations-security-council-cease-fire-resolution-gaza-israel-war

Quote:What this resolution says

The cease-fire resolution calls for the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages taken captive by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. Israel's military offensive in Gaza in response to the attack has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.


Ramadan is set to end in just over two weeks, on April 9, so if any cease-fire does manifest from the vote it may only be short-lived.

Monday's vote followed several failed attempts by the Security Council at brokering a cease-fire resolution — including one as recently as three days ago.


The U.S. had supported calls for a cease-fire only if they were directly connected to the release of some 130 hostages still in captivity under a deal being negotiated by diplomats from four nations.


"This resolution further explicitly recognizes the painstaking, non-stop negotiations being conducted by the Governments of Egypt, Israel, Qatar, and the United States to achieve such a release in the context of a ceasefire, which would also create space to surge more lifesaving humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians, and to build something more enduring," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement.


But because the final text of the resolution did not include "key language we view as essential, notably a condemnation of Hamas, we could not support it," Blinken added.


U.S Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield is now urging Security Council members to put pressure on Hamas to accept a deal being negotiated in Doha.

There's already 'catastrophic' hunger in Gaza. Who decides when to call it a 'famine?'
"We're getting closer to a deal for an immediate cease-fire with the release of all hostages, but we're not there yet," said Thomas-Greenfield after the vote.


National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was adamant that the vote did not reflect a change in U.S. policy.


"We have been clear and we've been consistent in our support for a cease-fire as part of a hostage deal," Kirby said on a call after the vote with reporters. He reiterated that because the final text did not include a condemnation of Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks, the U.S. abstained rather than voting in favor of the resolution.


"It seems like the prime minister's office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don't need to do that," Kirby said.

He added, "Of course we still have Israel's back."


Representatives for Hamas and Israeli are still in Qatar for indirect negotiations over a cease-fire, but remain far apart on several details.

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS — EXPLAINED

Blinken urges Netanyahu not to attack Rafah as cease-fire resolution fails at the U.N.
Hamas said it welcomed the call from the Security Council for an immediate cease-fire, but called on the international body to pressure Israel to adhere to the cease-fire and stop the war.


U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, "This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable."

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-security-council-demands-immediate-ceasefire-gaza-2024-03-25/

Quote:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the failure of the U.S. to veto the resolution was a "clear retreat" from its previous position and would hurt Israel's war efforts and bid to release more than 130 hostages still held by Hamas.


"Our vote does not, and I repeat that does not represent a shift in our policy," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. "Nothing has changed about our policy. Nothing."

Following the U.N. vote, Netanyahu canceled a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation that was due to discuss a planned Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where some 1.5 million Palestinians have sought shelter.


The U.S. was perplexed by Israel's decision and considered it an overreaction, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.


Washington had been averse to the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power to shield ally Israel as it retaliated against Hamas for an Oct. 7 attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people.

But as famine looms in Gaza and amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that Palestinian health authorities say has killed some 32,000 people, the U.S. abstained on Monday to allow the Security Council to demand an immediate ceasefire for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.


"It was the Hamas massacre that started this war," Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said. "The resolution just voted upon makes it seem as if the war started by itself... Israel did not start this war, nor did Israel want this war."

Hamas welcomed the Security Council resolution, saying in a statement that it "affirms readiness to engage in immediate prisoner swaps on both sides."


Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said countries should pressure Israel to stop attacking Lebanon. The Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been trading fire across the southern Lebanese border. Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the U.N. vote.


FAMINE IMMINENT
















Item 1 of 7 Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour addresses the Security Council on the day of a vote on a Gaza resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
[1/7]Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour addresses the Security Council on the day of a vote on a Gaza resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. fully supported "some of the critical objectives in this non-binding resolution," but added that Washington did not agree with everything in the text, which also did not condemn Hamas.


"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," Thomas-Greenfield told the council. "A ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage and so we must put pressure on Hamas to do just that."


China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said Security Council resolutions are binding.


"For the millions of people in Gaza, who remain mired in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, this resolution - if fully and effectively implemented - could still bring long awaited hope," he told the council.


Deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said Security Council resolutions are international law, "so to that extent they are as binding as international law is."


However, ultimately if there is no ceasefire in Gaza, it is unlikely the Security Council will take any further action.


The resolution also "emphasizes the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale."


Guterres urged Israel on Monday to lift all obstacles to aid into Gaza and allow convoys of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA into the north of the coastal enclave.


Famine is imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July, according to a U.N.-backed report by a global authority on food security released last week.


Displaced Palestinians in Rafah hoped a ceasefire would be implemented.


"We hope that this time there will be a ceasefire so that things will calm down and people can go back to their homes - enough bloodshed, destruction, martyrs, and death," Wafaa Al-Deais told Reuters as she made tea on a fire outside a tent.


The U.S. has vetoed three draft council resolutions on the war in Gaza. It has also previously abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost aid to Gaza and called for extended pauses in fighting.


Russia and China have also vetoed two U.S. drafted resolutions on the conflict - in October and on Friday.


"This must be a turning point," an emotional Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour told the Security Council after the vote on Monday. "This must lead to saving lives on the ground."

And while I am personally very sorry that it does not meet what you wanted even the US realized that they had to do something to avoid what is happening to the civilians there while still supporting Israel on the larger scale.  If Israel wants to turn its back on its largest and best supporter that will be on them.  The US will continue to support them if as they act like the US sided with Hamas.

Also, I'm well aware that I will be told I am wrong and I don't understand anything. 

I just feel that some kind of declaration needs to be made.