In a slap to Israel’s face, the United Nations General Assembly voted by an overwhelming 143-9 margin Friday to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestinians and also reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the U.N. The nine nations who voted against the measure were Czechia, Hungary, Argentina, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Israel, and the United States.
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The U.S. had opposed membership for Palestine in the past, and reiterated their stand before the vote:
The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent.
U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear on Thursday that the Biden administration opposed the assembly resolution. The United States was among the nine countries voting against it, along with Israel.
“We’ve been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries and the Palestinians is to try to go around that,” Wood said Thursday. “We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the U.N. is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position.”
Israel was infuriated by the outcome, which occurred even as the Jewish state remains at war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israeli ambassador to the U.N Gilad Erdan destroyed a copy of the group’s charter, saying, “You are shredding the U.N. charter with your own hands. Yes, yes, that’s what you’re doing. Shame on you.” Watch:
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Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel Katz tweeted that the resolution rewards violence:
[As translated by X:] The political theater of the United Nations made an artificial, distorted and disconnected decision, which gives a reward to the murderers of … Hamas and harms the efforts to free the abductees. The message that the UN is sending to the region saturated with pain is – violence pays off.
Unsurprisingly, Palestine’s ambassador had a much different view, and decried the war that Hamas started while thanking college students who are rioting all over the U.S. for their support for the terrorist group:
He also thanked protesters on US university campuses and abroad who have demonstrated against the Israel-Hamas war. “Our flag flies high and proud in Palestine and across the globe, and on the campus of Columbia University. It has become a symbol by all those who believe in freedom and is just ruled by all those who can no longer stand idly by in the face of such utter injustice,” Mansour said.
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Israel has once again been left isolated by much of the world, and the only truly powerful ally they have is the United States. However, despite President Biden’s declaration of “ironclad support,” he has repeatedly undermined the Israelis and recently announced that he will pause certain weapons shipments if the IDF attacks the Hamas stronghold of Rafah. With friends like that…
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Biden Says He Will Stop Weapons Exports to Israel If It Attacks Rafah