Russia: US holding UN Security Council ‘hostage’ with its veto power and cynical Gaza ‘ceasefire’ ploys
"We call on the Council not to be under the thumb of Washington, who is concerned only with protecting Israel's interests and profits from supplying weapons..."
Russian ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy called out the US at the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday for its ongoing role in Israel’s genocide in the wake of the massacre at the al-Tabin school in Gaza City.
“Expecting our Western—primarily American—colleagues, who are in cahoots with Israel, to express any compassion for the Palestinians is pointless,” said Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN.
“Therefore, it’s important to regularly bring the truth about what’s happening in Gaza to the international community through the Security Council…”
“Unfortunately what happened in al-Tabin can’t be seen as a one-off or some awful criminal misstep…”
“There’s an obvious conclusion that what is happening is nothing less than a deliberate choice by the Israeli leadership. Condemnation of the actions of West Jerusalem and calls for restraint will not work. The problem runs much deeper…”
“The UN Security Council is increasingly turning into a passive and powerless bystander, who can only report of worsening degradation of the situation and ritually express their concern…”
“14 members of the Security Council have essentially been held hostage by the US, who block any action towards an immediate ceasefire…”
“40,000 people have been killed [since Oct 16]… more than 90,000 have been injured… this is the price of inaction of multilateral diplomacy and shortsighted interest of some members of the Council, who, with their ‘Veto of Damocles,’ for six months have hindered even the slightest moves towards a ceasefire…”
“We call on the Council not to be under the thumb of Washington, who is concerned only with protecting the interests of Israel and profits from delivering weapons to hotspots…”
“We should think together about what measures can be taken to de-escalate in Gaza, and the region as a whole. If, for that, we need a Security Council visit ‘to the field,’ then that’s what should happen…”
“The Middle East should be a priority for Council visits, which should not become political tourism to comfortable locations…”
Resolution 2735
Amb. Polyanskiy also discussed UN Security Council Resolution 2735, which was backed by the US and adopted in June, noting that Russia had abstained because they had “the most serious doubts” regarding its “feasibility”—doubts which, he says, have now been “confirmed.”
“[The resolution] contained three phases with extremely ambitious plans, from a comprehensive ceasefire to the start of a full-scale reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Not a single one of these phases has materialized. Now, they all look absolutely surrealistic. And, unfortunately, the Security Council signed up for this surrealism…”
“But what’s worse than anything is that it signed up to a blatant lie: the first operative paragraph stated that Israel agreed to the proposed conditions of the ‘deal.’ Israel’s representatives on many occasions, including in this room, said directly that they did NOT agree to it…”
“Moreover, the entire rhetoric of Israeli officials shows that Israel has no intentions at all to stop its military operation, whatever the position of the Security Council may be…”
“So what result, then, came from—to quote our American colleagues—their ‘active’ and ‘assertive’ diplomacy on the ground to bringing the parties to agreement, which the Security Council was told it should not interfere with?… We are not aware of any progress at all. The only ‘anti-result’ since the adoption of Resolution 2735 was the blatant, provocative assassination of the main negotiator for Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh – the former Palestinian prime minister – during his visit to Tehran…”
Ulterior Motives
Back in June, shortly after the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2735, journalist Sam Husseini questioned US State Dept spokesman Matthew Miller about the apparent ulterior motives behind it:
WATCH: Journalist @samhusseini questions the State Dept about the timing of the Biden admin's UNSC “ceasefire” resolution earlier this month, after having vetoed multiple previous ones
— Decensored News (@decensorednews) June 26, 2024
“It came just after the latest orders from the ICJ on May 24th,” Sam notes… orders which… pic.twitter.com/xMz7VIB8lE
“After the May 24 International Court of Justice orders telling Israel to stop its invasion of Rafah, the Algerians put forward a UN Security Council resolution to implement that order,” Sam wrote at the time. “Biden’s phony ‘ceasefire’ plan, which he claimed was an Israel plan, sabotaged that.”
Sam provided further context and analysis regarding Resolution 2735 in an article published last month.
“In a nutshell, the Biden administration hijacked the rhetoric of ‘ceasefire’ to obstruct the ICJ orders and international law,” he wrote.
The full, official text of Russian ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy’s statement at the UN Security Council yesterday can be read here. It doesn’t match the live translation word for word, but is pretty close overall. We’ve incorporated some elements of it into the quotes above.
