Explanation of vote by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia on a UNSC Draft Resolution on the Middle East, including the Palestinian question

https://russiaun.ru/en/news/20112024

Main statement:

We are grateful to Guyana and other non-permanent members of the Council for their courage and efforts to move the draft resolution forward. We supported that document. We pay tribute to those responsible members of the Security Council who, like us, are aware of the need for a speedy and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza as a key to overall stabilisation in the region.

And now I would like my colleqagues to listen very carefully to what I’m going to say. Once I finish, I will explain why.

It is shocking that the US has vetoed an effort to save lives of Palestinians and Israelis. Though perhaps, we should not be surprised about it.

For months, the US has obstructed and obfuscated, standing in the way of Council action to address the catastrophic situation in Gaza, and playing one side of the conflict to advance its own political objectives, at the expense of Palestinian lives.

Today the Council would have come together to call for a comprehensive ceasefire, protection of civilians and solution to the whole complex of humanitarian problems faced by Palestinians.

The US claims it is for and with Palestinians, but vote against a resolution supported by the majority of regional countries, for the region.

We would have demanded an immediate, unconditional and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza as well as an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.

It is unconscionable that the US would cynically stand in the way of demanding these actions – actions to save lives in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

We do not need to be lectured by the US on hypocrisy. A hypocrisy that they exhibit every day in different conflicts, not respecting sovereignty and imposing their own rules. As a result, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed.

We are watching the situation closely and will continue to call out abuses and those responsible, particularly the US.

We must continue to amplify the voices of Palestinian people, who are calling for peace, prosperity and justice. And the US cannot stand in the way of that.

We believe that you’ve realized that this was almost a direct quote from the US Permanent representative’s remarks in the wake of the voting on the resolution on Sudan. In our view, it is a very appropriate quote.

We would like to thank our American colleagues for the fact that by delivering their statement yesterday, they relieved us of the need to prepare most of our today’s statement in explanation of the vote.

Now I would like to address my American colleagues. I would like to say that today you have definitively shown that you are fully responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, for deprivations of refugees, and sufferings of hostages and illegally detained Palestinians. It was interesting to listen to the statement by the US representative in explanation of vote today. He argued, for example, that the resolution does not contain a provision on the release of hostages. But it does contain such a provision. Perhaps the US representative should have read through the resolution before voting against it? He also claimed that the resolution does not contain a condemnation of the October 7 attack. We would like to remind our American colleagues that it was the United States that on 18 October 2023, vetoed the UNSC resolution containing the condemnation of the October 7 attack.

The United States positions itself as a key partner not only of Israel but also of the states of the Arab world. However, they are voting against a resolution that meets the interests of all Arabs and are supported by the Arabs themselves. If the draft had been passed, we could have demanded that Israel cease its deadly attacks in Gaza and the West Bank, and that it rein in its aggression against Lebanon and Syria. We could have send a very clear message to the parties to stop the violence and to move towards a political and diplomatic settlement of the Palestinian question.

The cold-blooded and cynical obstruction by the US of a simple demand on behalf of the Security Council – to save human lives – is an unconscionable and inhumane act.

We have no doubt that the Israelis themselves are also interested in ending the spiral of violence. We categorically reject attempts to present the events of 7 October 2023 as a starting point for the current bloody events in the region. The reasons lie much deeper and they have to do with a long-standing historical injustice whereby one side was given the opportunity to establish their State and the other was consistently denied the exact same right.

We will continue to resolutely advocate for the need to end violence against the Palestinians. We will continue to unabashedly expose the abuses and hypocrisy the United States demonstrates when dealing with the situation. We will not allow the Americans to muzzle the entire Council in an effort to embolden Israel to continue its ruthless operation. The absolute majority of the people on this planet speak vociferously in favor of ending the spiral of violence, seeking a just solution to the Palestinian question on an internationally-recognized legal basis and granting Palestine full membership at the UN. And it is our common duty to make sure that these voices are heard. We must bring peace, stability and prosperity to the Middle East. And no one, including the US and other Western representatives who indulge Israel, has the right to inhibit these legitimate aspirations.

Thank you.

Right of reply:

I’ll be brief. I have a rhetorical question for the American representative, you don’t have to answer it. Does he have any other narrative than the one he gave today? When we hear what he says, we feel like in the Groundhog Day movie.

Thank you.