US’s veto marks a ‘new low’ in policy towards Palestine
Omar Baddar, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the US’s latest veto of a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza confirms that the Biden administration’s commitment to ending the war was “a charade all along”.
He described the veto as a “new low”, but noted that the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is “promising to make American policy even more anti-Palestinian”.
“All the nominations for major appointments are religious fanatics and extremists,” Baddar said.
“I think what Donald Trump is priming us for, along with the people around him, is to enable Netanyahu to deal a death blow to the entire Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice,” he added.
Here’s how the US Senate voted on arms sales to Israel
The US Senate has overwhelmingly voted down three bills that would have stopped the shipments of tank rounds, mortar rounds and smart-bomb kits to Israel.
The Senate voted 79-18 to block the bill on tank rounds, and 78-19 to reject the bill on mortar rounds. Some 80 voted to block the bill on smart-bomb kits, while 17 voted “yes”.
All those who voted in favour of blocking the arms sales to Israel were Democrats or progressive independents who caucus with the Democrats, like Sanders who proposed the bills. Two centrist legislators, Jeanne Shaheen and Jon Ossoff, also voted in favour of the three measures.
The number comes to about a third of all the members who caucus with the Democrats and demonstrates the growing opposition to Democratic President Biden’s handling of the war in Israel.
By comparison, of the 49 Republicans in the Senate, 47 voted “no”. The other two did not vote.
By international law and the genocide conventions in particular, all those who voted to block the bills are now officially complicit in genocide, as well as breaking US law.
Oxfam official slams US Senate vote on Israel arms sales
Scott Paul, the director of peace and security at Oxfam America, says the US Senate’s failure to block arms sales to Israel comes as no “surprise”.
“But it’s yet another bitter disappointment,” he said in a post on X. “US leaders refuse to enforce the law or stand up for the Palestinians facing starvation, bombardment, and disease in Gaza.”
Still, there is some progress, he said, noting that more Democratic senators “are unwilling to be complicit in the atrocities that Israel is committing in Gaza”.
“It’s excruciating that this change is happening too slowly to save lives today, but it points to a future in which the US is committed, in policy rather than only in rhetoric, to a dignified future for all Palestinians and Israelis,” he added.
Writers and politicians slam US veto of UN resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire
Last night, the United States used its veto power to block a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza – its fifth such veto since the war began.
“For over a year, the Biden administration has pretended to work on a ceasefire and increasing humanitarian aid in Gaza, while continuing to arm and support the genocide committed by Israel there,” activist Omar Baddar wrote on X. “In their final days, they stopped pretending; I hope this haunts them forever.”
Yanis Varoufakis, economics professor and former Greek finance minister, condemned the veto as “another outbreak of misanthropy from the ‘civilised’ West,” while Egyptian politician Mohamed El Baradei called it a “shameful exploitation of the veto once again.”
