The UN General Assembly convened an emergency special session to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
Dennis Francis, president of the United Nations General Assembly, said today that as member states gather to discuss the U.S. veto in the Security Council last month, Gaza's top priority must remain to save civilian lives.
Cheikh Niang, Vice-President of the General Assembly from Senegal, presided over the meeting in the General Assembly Hall and read a statement on behalf of Francis.
Francis welcomed the adoption by the Security Council of Resolution 2720 at the end of last month, which calls for the safe and unhindered expansion of humanitarian access and the creation of conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities, the statement said.
He urged all warring parties in Gaza to fully implement the Council's resolutions, as well as the resolution calling for a ceasefire adopted by the General Assembly at its emergency special session on 12 December.
At the same time, Francis urges all Member States to put the common goal of protecting civilians at the forefront of today's discussions.
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Vice-President of the General Assembly, Niang, presided over an emergency special session on the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
The veto sparked debate
In the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the General Assembly adopted a resolution aimed at strengthening cooperation with the Security Council, which calls for automatic access to emergency sessions of the General Assembly after the use of a veto in the Security Council.
The veto is a special voting right possessed by the permanent members of the Security Council, and if any of the five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – vote against it, the resolution or decision will automatically not be adopted.
The General Assembly resolution proposing this additional review mechanism requires the President of the General Assembly to convene a formal debate within 10 working days to allow the views of the 193 Member States to be heard, with the real purpose of giving Member States an opportunity to make recommendations, such as the use of armed forces to maintain or restore peace and security on the ground.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, all General Assembly resolutions have moral and political implications, but they are not binding and generally do not have the force of international law.
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Robert Wood, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations.
The representative of the United States: Promise to bring all the hostages home
Robert Wood, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, said the United States welcomes the Security Council's adoption of the resolution on December 22.
He said that although the United States abstained from voting, it had been working closely with other key countries in the hope of reaching a strong resolution. This work can support the direct diplomacy that the United States is doing to provide more humanitarian assistance to Gaza and to help the hostages leave Gaza.
Russia proposed an amendment to the resolution, calling for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian action to proceed smoothly, but the amendment was vetoed by the United States.
Wood did not name Russia, saying only that a member state insisted on putting forward ideas that were divorced from reality.
He said that it was also deeply disturbing that many countries no longer seemed to talk about the plight of the hostages still being held in Gaza by Palestinian militants.
Wood stressed that the United States is committed to bringing them all home and will continue to work for another truce. However, there is still a lack of demands for Hamas to lay down its arms and surrender.
"It would be good if the international community could raise a strong voice urging Hamas leaders to take the necessary steps to end the conflict they started on October 7," he said. ”
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Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations.
Palestinian observer: The Palestinians are going through a war of atrocities
Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, said he stood in front of the General Assembly Hall to represent a people who were being slaughtered. The trauma of many Palestinian families killed, men and women shot dead in the streets, thousands abducted, tortured and humiliated, and many children killed, amputated and orphaned, will last a lifetime.
No one should be subjected to this kind of violence, he said, and this violence must end. It is simply incomprehensible that the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the 153 Member States are calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, but that the Security Council is still stymied by its call for a ceasefire agreement.
Mansour noted that the Israeli attack has no precedent in modern history and that it was a war of atrocities. "How can you compromise between opposing atrocities and vetoing calls to end atrocities and wars," he asked.
Mansour said Palestine had long supported a proposal by France and Mexico to "suspend the veto in the event of atrocities such as genocide, crimes against humanity and large-scale war crimes." The Israeli attack on Palestinians in Gaza demonstrates the importance of this proposal, and support for an immediate ceasefire is the only morally and legally responsible position.
Mansour told the General Assembly that 11 Palestinians, including seven women and children, had been killed every hour over the past 90 days. This has nothing to do with Israel's security issues, but with the destruction of Palestine. The interests and objectives of the extremist Israeli Government are obvious and incompatible with those of any country that supports international law and peace.
"The death and destruction of Palestinians, the non-treatment of Palestinians as human beings, will never bring security," he said. Palestine will continue to exist. Don't call for peace while expanding the flames of war. If you really want peace, start with a ceasefire. A ceasefire is now begins. ”
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Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Erdan.
The representative of Israel: There is no morality at the United Nations, only prejudice and hypocrisy
Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, asked the UN General Assembly how many delegations could call for a ceasefire when 136 people were still being held hostage, including a baby who was about to turn one year old?
He asked: "Has this institution been morally degraded to such a point? Why is there no chanting in the arena to bring this baby home? Why are you not holding Hamas accountable for the most heinous war crimes?"
Erdan said that despite the "moral decay" of the United Nations, Israeli citizens are tenacious, with faith, hope and an unbreakable determination to defend themselves.
He said that the United Nations had become an accomplice of terrorists and that there was no reason to exist. The UN is not concerned with whether the hostages will return home or what they have suffered, but only with the well-being of Gazans – those who have brought Hamas to power and supported its atrocities.
Erdan said that the only thing Hamas wants is a repeat of the Holocaust, and that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide has become a weapon against the Jewish state.
"You have turned a deaf ear to all the Israeli victims," he said. There is no morality here, only prejudice and hypocrisy. The call for a ceasefire is a green light for Hamas to continue its reign of terror. ”
Erdan stressed that by calling for a ceasefire, the General Assembly is sending a clear signal to terrorists around the world that "rape can be used as a weapon of war."
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Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Yevstingnieva.
Russia: The Security Council can only adopt resolutions that have no effect, and the United States should be held responsible
Russia's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Anna Evstigneeva, said the U.S. veto in the Security Council on December 22 was a game of unscrupulous use to protect Israel's actions in Gaza, which was guilty.
She said the U.S. used blackmail and pressure to allow Israel to continue killing Palestinians. But Russia, wanting to save the Gazans, who were facing extermination, proposed amendments.
Yevstinnieeva pointed out that the real purpose of the US veto is to make Israel continue to act wantonly and deliberately sabotage multilateral efforts under the auspices of the United Nations to serve its own geopolitical interests in the Middle East, thus causing a sad result: In the three months since the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Security Council can only adopt a number of ineffective resolutions.
She said that Russia, based solely on the demands of the Palestinian and Arab representatives, abstained from voting on both the resolution and the amendment, instead of voting against.
Yevstinnieva said that the Security Council's unequivocal call for a comprehensive ceasefire remains a top priority. Without a ceasefire, it will be impossible to implement the Council's decisions in Gaza. The continued escalation of violence is clearly catastrophic, and the violence will continue if the root causes of the conflict are not properly addressed through a two-State solution.
"Under the current conditions, our common goal is to assist the parties in establishing a negotiation process," she said. A collective diplomatic mechanism is needed, and one of the most urgent tasks is to restore Palestinian unity. ”