The United States cast the sole vote on the Security Council against a resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution on December 8; Britain abstained.
In remarks after the vote, U.S. Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Robert Wood called the resolution “imbalanced” and “divorced from reality.”
“We still cannot comprehend why the resolution’s authors declined to include language condemning Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on October 7. An attack that killed over 12,000 people. Women, children, the elderly. People from a range of nationalities. Burned alive. Gunned down. Subject to obscene sexual violence,” he said.
Ambassador Wood noted that for the last 20 years, the Security Council has repeatedly underscored the need to take seriously all reports of conflict-related sexual violence:
“Yet this Council and many of its members have been conspicuously silent in response to reports that Hamas committed acts of sexual-and gender-based violence on October 7. These incidents must be investigated and condemned, just as we do in any other conflict.”
The resolution also failed to acknowledge that Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorism, consistent with international law. “No country,” said Ambassador Wood, “could or should tolerate what Hamas did on October 7.”
“Perhaps most unrealistically,” Ambassador Wood declared, “this resolution retains a call for an unconditional ceasefire … [which] would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did:”
“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, any ceasefire is at best temporary, and is certainly not peace. And any ceasefire that leaves Hamas in control of Gaza would deny Palestinian civilians the chance to build something better for themselves.”
The United States deplores the tragic deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza and supports the renewal of humanitarian pauses to allow for additional aid to the people there, said Ambassador Wood.
“The United States will continue the hard work of diplomacy. To free hostages. To increase protection of civilians. To expand humanitarian aid. And to increase an opportunity for Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side in peace and security.”
“As President Biden [has] reiterated,” declared Ambassador Wood, “‘A two-state solution is the only way to guarantee the long-term security of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.’”
