Onslaught on Gaza: UN votes overwhelmingly for cease-fire, shows growing isolation of US & Israel
The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to demand a humanitarian cease-fire in a strong demonstration of global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war.
The vote also shows the growing isolation of the United States and Israel.
The vote in the 193-member world body was 153 in favor, 10 against and 23 abstentions. The support was higher than for an Oct. 27 resolution that called for a “humanitarian truce” leading to a cessation of hostilities, where the vote was 120-14 with 45 abstentions.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding. But the assembly’s messages are important barometers of world opinion.
President Joe Biden says he’s told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel risks losing international support because of “indiscriminate bombing” during its war with Hamas in Gaza, but that he’s not sure the country’s staunchest conservative leaders are getting the message.
Speaking at a fundraiser for his reelection campaign in Washington on Tuesday, Biden said, “Israel has a tough decision to make. Bibi has a tough decision to make.” He added of Netanyahu, “I think he has to change his government. His government in Israel is making it very difficult.”
“One of the things that Bibi understands,” Biden said “is that Israel’s security can rest on the United States. But, right now, it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world supporting them. But they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place.”
Biden also called out Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of a far-right Israeli party and the minister of national security in Netanyahu’s governing coalition. Ben-Gvir opposes a two-state solution and has called for the Israel to reassert control over all of the West Bank and Gaza.
Biden suggested that he wasn’t sure Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu’s war Cabinet understand the implications of the ongoing bombing.
The president also said he urged Netanyahu not to “make the same mistakes” the US made after Sept. 11, saying the US military response landed it in a long war in Afghanistan and “there’s no reason we did so many of the things we did.”