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Israel lauds US, PA accuses it of genocide for vetoing ceasefire call
Israel lauded the United States while the Palestinian Authority accused it of genocide for vetoing a United Nations ceasefire resolution that called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
The resolution which had the support of 13 out of the 15 UNSC members did not condemn Hamas for the October 7 attack. The resolution did not call for the release of the remaining 138 hostages or demand that the International Committee of the Red Cross visit them.
“I greatly appreciate the correct stance that the US has taken in the UN Security Council,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, explaining that it was impossible to both defeat Hamas and agree to a ceasefire.
“The other countries need to understand that, on the one hand, it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas while, on the other hand, calling for a halt to the war, which will prevent the elimination of Hamas.”“Therefore, Israel will continue our just war to eliminate Hamas and achieve the other goals of the war that we have set,” Netanyahu said on Saturday night.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said after Friday’s vote in New York that “a ceasefire at this time would prevent the collapse of the Hamas terrorist organization, which is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and would enable it to continue ruling the Gaza Strip,”
Cohen said that Israel reacted “with gratitude to our ally, the US, for its support to continue the fight to bring the hostages home and to eliminate the Hamas terrorist organization, which will bring a better future to the region.”
The Foreign Minister also issued a scathing attack against UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who had invoked a rare bureaucratic tool last used in 1989, to prompt a Security Council call for a ceasefire. The text itself was submitted by the United Arab Emirates, which holds one of 10 temporary security council seats.
The US, which has veto power as one of five permanent UNSC members, blocked the move. The United Kingdom, which is also a permanent member, abstained.
Cohen charged that Guterres’ action was akin to supporting Hamas. “Guterres’ appeal to stand on the side of Hamas and request a ceasefire disgraces his position and constitutes a mark of Cain on the UN.
“The invocation of Article 99, after it was not used for the war in Ukraine or for the civil war in Syria, is another example of Guterres’ biased and one-sided stance,” Cohen said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas President Abbas called the US veto a “blatant violation of all humanitarian values and principles,” according to a statement posted on the Palestinian news agency WAFA, charging that the US was responsible “for the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women, and elderly in Gaza at the hands of Israeli occupation forces.”The veto, Abbas said, is part of the Biden administration’s “shameful policy supporting the [Israeli] occupation and Israel’s brutal aggression against the Palestinian people.”
“This US policy makes it complicit in the crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem,” Abbas stated.
“This decision will haunt the United States for years,” he added.
What is the message being sent?
Before Friday’s vote, Deputy UAE UN Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab asked the council, ”What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?”
“Indeed, what is the message we are sending civilians across the world who may find themselves in similar situations?”
In a debate Friday morning, before the vote later that afternoon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan asked why the UN, including the Security Council, had failed to hold Hamas responsible for the Gaza war and its October 7 attack against Israel.
There was a seven-day pause to the war in Gaza at the end of November, he said, but then Hamas violated the terms of that agreement, not once, but several times.
“If this council wants to see a ceasefire start by demanding it from Hamas,” Erdan said.
‘Hamas is solely responsible for the humanitarian situation on the ground and they must be held fully accountable by the council,” he said.
“When sitting in these meetings it feels as if Hamas does not exist at all,” he said.
Erdan said that Israel was doing its utmost to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, while he blamed the UN for not having the logistical capacity to handle the situation.
Hamas has shot at Palestinians to keep them away from the humanitarian assistance and has stolen it for their own use, he said.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council that the draft resolution was a rushed, imbalanced text “that was divorced from reality, that would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way.”
“We do not support this resolution’s call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war,” said Wood.
The US had offered substantial amendments to the draft, including a condemnation of the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and and in which 240 people were taken hostage.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said her country abstained because there was no condemnation of Hamas.
“Israel needs to be able to address the threat posed by Hamas and it needs to do so in a manner that abides by international humanitarian law so that such an attack can never be carried out again,” she told the council.
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told the council the result of the vote was “disastrous,” adding: “Millions of Palestinian lives hang in the balance. Every single one of them is sacred, worth saving.”
“There is no effective protection of civilians,” Guterres told the council earlier on Friday, as he spoke of a situation in which over 1.8 million of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced. Hamas has asserted that over 17,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in war-related violence. Israel has said that some 7,000 of them are terrorists.
Guterres said on Friday, “The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival. But nowhere in Gaza is safe.”
A seven-day pause – during which Hamas released 105 hostages and there was an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid to Gaza – ended on Dec. 1.
Aid into Gaza
After several failed attempts to take action, the Security Council last month called for pauses in fighting to allow aid access to Gaza, which Guterres on Friday described as a “spiraling humanitarian nightmare.”
“There is a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza, which would have devastating consequences.
“We anticipate that it would result in a complete breakdown of public order and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt,” Guterres said.
“I fear the consequences could be devastating for the security of the entire region,” he added.
The cherry season is at its peak but there is little traffic in the orchards and the fruits are rotting on the branches.
Israelis, unlike every year, are avoiding a pilgrimage north to the self-harvesting orchards in Odem, Merom Golan, Kela, and Elrom. The winds of war gripped the Golan Heights this week with intensity.
Dozens of forest and pasture fires broke out in the northern plateau near Katzrin and up to the western slopes above Kibbutz Gadot.
Hezbollah has been hit in recent weeks by IDF operations. Their desire to respond, to take revenge burns inside them.Therefore, they chose to increase the range of fire for military targets in the Golan Heights. This is how Hezbollah broadcasts that it is looking for revenge in addition to preparing the fighting space for the day when Israel will make a significant move in Lebanon.
Under new management
A month and a half ago, Col. Benny Kata assumed the position of commander of the 474th Brigade, the brigade that defends the Golan Heights area.
Ostensibly, he should have turned his attention to the east, towards Syria and even deeper into Iraq, but already in the process of taking over the role, he realized that he must also be ready for missiles and UAVs also from the northern theater in Lebanon.
In the weeks he has been in office, almost every day, Hezbollah fired rockets or launched anti-aircraft missiles into the Golan Heights from Lebanon.
80 percent of the forces in the Golan Heights are combat-reserve units. The previous times that the reserve army was in the Golan Heights in such numbers were during the Yom Kippur War and both the first and second Lebanon Wars.
The eastern border with Syria is a fake border. On the one hand, the Separation of Forces Agreement was maintained even during the civil war in Syria during the Arab Spring.
UNDOF forces, entrusted with maintaining the armistice agreement and the separation of forces, act with respectable assertiveness, unlike the UNIFIL forces on the Lebanese border. On the other hand, beneath the false silence, unrest is taking place. Even binoculars for viewing from a distance will not reveal what is taking place.
The Iranians managed to take control of considerable areas in Syria during the days of the civil war.
They sacrificed their lives to save the rule of Assad Jr.
Thousands of Shiite Iranians migrated from northern and western Iran to Syria. In the world media, they are called “pro-Iranian militias”. In practice, they are Iranian fighters under the operation of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
“The Iranian proxy was in our eastern arena. We know what the capabilities of Iran and Hezbollah are, and they exist among these militias in Syria and in Iraq as well,” said one military official.
This is the reason why Col. Benny Kata and his soldiers work around the clock. On the one hand, the IDF is improving readiness in the Golan Heights, through more training and improving the means for both attacks and warning, as well as improving the line of fortifications and carrying out engineering operations.
The IDF says that the goal is to damage the capabilities of the Iranian militias deep in Syria and even in Iraq. To this end, the army was deployed not only on the Israeli side of the border but also in the security area, which is a section of hundreds of meters, defined as Israeli territory, but it is east of the perimeter fence.
According to foreign publications, the IDF operates every few days in much deeper ranges, both in the outskirts of Damascus, Homs, Quneitra and more.
“We are not evacuating the residents of the Golan. Our defense activity is in the space beyond the fence,” says a military official. But in the 747th division, they don’t take any risks after October 7.
Along with the offensive defense plans, they are strengthening rear defense systems, including refreshing and strengthening all the standby classes in the settlements. The IDF increased the classes, trained the fighters, and even provided combat equipment that would allow dealing with forces’ infiltration into the Golan Heights area.
The decision on whether to go for a ground maneuver in Lebanon may be made at the political level soon.
This is, of course, if we judge by the level of statements and threats heard in recent days. The IDF understands that such a move will open at least one more fighting front in the Golan.
Spain, Ireland, and Norway’s recognition of a Palestinian state is perceived in Israel as a product of antisemitism and an anti-Israel stance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, it is not necessarily, certainly not exclusively, related to these positions. This step can also be seen as a European ideal to change the course of history and to reinforce Europe’s influence in the Middle East.
Politics are driven by power and control. These concepts are not only achieved through military force but can also be implemented through the dissemination of cultural and political ideas. Starting from the mid-19th century until its end, Europe experienced a national awakening. Within this context, Christian Europe shaped the idea of the nation-state. Europe did not think then about nations outside itself, but some of them had already begun to think about themselves. This happened in Asia, the Americas, and even in Africa. The Jews, in their own way, quickly adopted the new idea and created Zionism.
In contrast, the Muslim world never fully embraced this political organization. This is particularly true among Arabs in the Middle East. The adoption of the nation-state idea in territories like Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon is still partial and territorial to this day and is explicitly a product of European colonialism. At some point, Muslim Arabs understood that in order to break free from European colonial rule, they needed to learn to speak their language and establish organizations that would be legitimate in their eyes, and quickly created national resistance movements against European colonialism.
These movements have over time transformed into nation-states. Yet from the authentic consciousness of the Arabs in the region, the concept of nationalism is still a foreign concept. It is no coincidence that Arab-Muslim nation-states in the Middle East remain weak and fragile to this day, with some of them undergoing more or less advanced processes of disintegration.
Israel’s influence on Muslim ideals
Veterans of the IDF are certainly surprised by the stubborn resistance of Hamas in Gaza. They are used to Arab soldiers in the service of nation-states, who abandon the battlefield in a panic as soon as things start to get messy. The Arab/Muslim trust in nationalism is so tenuous that loyalty to the nation is not a sufficient motivation for a soldier to risk his life.
In contrast, Hamas succeeds in arousing authentic tribal impulses and providing motivation and even enthusiasm to its murderous terrorists, because Hamas is formally a nationalist movement. Hamas demands the territory of the Land of Israel and the expulsion of the Jews from it mainly in the name of Islam. In its view, the Land of Israel is their holy land and the Jews are infidels. This idea finds shorter and more direct routes to the hearts of the Palestinians, as it has been pumped for almost 1,500 years by all the Muslim empires that ruled over the Land of Israel.
So faced with Hamas, which emphasizes the religious aspect of the conflict and receives funding from Iran that promotes the idea of a Muslim empire – the historical enemy of Christian Europe – Europe is trying to forcefully reintroduce the European idea of a Muslim nation-state to the region, because a Palestinian state based on the European nationalist idea will remain weak and dependent on Europe. It seems that this is the profound truth behind the European recognition of the Palestinian nation-state. Of course, the move also has a connection to Israel and the century-old conflict, but that is certainly not the sole reason.
As international actors debate the legitimacy of Israel’s operation in Gaza, the war on Israel’s northern front rages on. Deaths from the Israel-Hezbollah conflict are continuing to rise, and over 100,000 Israelis are still evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, leading some to question the efficacy of the UN peacekeeper force meant to maintain security in southern Lebanon.
Israel’s 1978 invasion pushed the PLO north of the Litani River, about 18 miles from the border, in order to limit attacks against Israel. Despite the establishment of UNIFIL as a peacekeeper force, Israel returned to Lebanon in 1982. In 2006, another conflict broke out between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite group with ties to Iran.
After 34 days of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, the UN brokered a cease-fire. Under the agreement, UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to cease hostilities, and UNIFIL was tasked with ensuring that no armed groups other than itself and the Lebanese army operated south of the Litani River.
Today, UNIFIL comprises more than 10,000 soldiers from 49 nations. In addition to monitoring the border, the organization also provides humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the exchange of fire in southern Lebanon.
UNIFIL’s role pre-October 7
“Before Oct. 7, we were able to guarantee the overall stability of the southern border for years, and this was clearly a success,” Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the UNIFIL mission, told The Media Line. “We played an active role. In fact, we have helped the Lebanese army, starting from 2008, to regain control of the southern part of the country.”
Despite UNIFIL’s successes, Hezbollah has grown stronger in southern Lebanon since 2006, especially in the towns and villages along the 75-mile-long demarcation line, leading some to criticize UNIFIL as ineffective. Since Oct. 7, as constant clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have plagued southern Lebanon and northern Israel, those criticisms have grown louder.
“The UNIFIL mission started with very weak points and ended up being more a cease-fire resolution than a peacekeeping one,” Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told The Media Line. She noted that the forces mostly report violations.
“They do not possess the tools and permission from the UN to confiscate weapons or even arrest those affiliated with” Hezbollah, she said.
Tenenti characterized UNIFIL as “the only ones who can mediate properly” amid the rising tensions, noting that the group had arranged meetings between the Israeli and Lebanese armies.
UNIFIL does not only monitor the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel—at times, it finds itself caught up in that contact. Among other incidents, a car bomb killed six UNIFIL personnel in 2007, and in October, two mortar shells of undetermined origin hit a UNIFIL base, injuring one peacekeeper.
“Hezbollah targets UNIFIL because they do not want another actor in the south,” Ghaddar explained. “It is never an accident when UNIFIL personnel is targeted because the militant group aims to send a message both to the countries that serve in these forces and to the UN: do not interfere with our activities in the southern part of the country.”
Avraham Levine, a speaker at the northern Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, told The Media Line that Hezbollah has more control over UNIFIL than UNIFIL does over Hezbollah.
“There are areas where UNIFIL personnel cannot go to, and if they end up by mistake in Hezbollah’s territory, they are attacked on the spot, their vehicles are burnt, and sometimes they are even shot down,” he said.
Levine also said that Hezbollah uses UNIFIL bases for its military purposes.
“Both in 2006 and in further operations that Israel carried against Hezbollah, the militants used UNIFIL compounds as shields for their operations in order to stop Israel’s counterattacks against a UN base,” he said.
One of the rockets launched at Israel by Hezbollah in December originated just 20 yards from a UNIFIL compound.
Levine said that the Lebanese army’s lack of action to rein in Hezbollah relates to the Shia sympathies of many of the soldiers as well as the interest in avoiding another Lebanese civil war.
Describing both UNIFIL and the Lebanese army as ineffective deterrents to Hezbollah, he said that Israel may have to invade Lebanon once again.
“We cannot risk another Oct. 7 in the northern part of Israel since [Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan] Nasrallah publicly claimed his goal to invade the Galilee. Even if this scenario is not pleasant for both sides, we may need to stop Hezbollah by entering Lebanon as we did in the past,” he said.
In the event that a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah does break out, UNIFIL may be a target, Levine said. “Maybe this may push to reconsider its mission in the first place,” he speculated.
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