America was the sole Security Council member to vote against the resolution
The US has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have paved a way for Palestine to become a member of the world body.
Palestine is currently a “permanent observer state” at the UN that participates in many meetings but does not have voting rights.
The draft resolution debated on Thursday contained a recommendation to the UN General Assembly to hold a vote on updating Palestine’s status within the organization. The document was rejected with 12 votes in favor, one against, and two abstentions.
US Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Robert Wood said that “there are unresolved questions as to whether [Palestine] meets the criteria to be considered a state.” He argued that Palestine cannot be admitted to the UN as long as the militant group Hamas controls Gaza.
The usual "but what about Hamas" from the US that would be replaced by some other excuse if they didn't exist in order to allow their outpost of Isn'treal to continue the extermination and occupation of its genocidal settler white supremacist state.
Speaking at the Security Council, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that the vote had shown that “for Washington, [the Palestinians] do not deserve to have their own state.”
“Today’s use of the veto by the US delegation is a hopeless attempt to stop the inevitable course of history. The results of the vote, where Washington was practically in complete isolation, speak for themselves,” Nebenzia said.
Palestinian Ambassador Majed Bamya said after the vote that the PA was “not deterred in our pursuit for Palestinian freedom and independence.”
Algeria’s U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative on the council who introduced the resolution, called Palestine’s admission “a critical step toward rectifying a longstanding injustice” and said that “Peace will come from Palestine’s inclusion, not from its exclusion.”
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour, at times emotional, told the council after the vote: "The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will and it will not defeat our determination. We will not stop in our effort."
[The Zionist Occupation]'s Foreign Minister Israel Katz commended the United States for casting a veto.
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