US ‘wants licence to kill Gazans’ – Russia

Muhammad Amin

The latest United States “alternative”, draft resolution at the UN on the Middle East “is nothing but a license to kill Palestinian civilians, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia says.

“This is not an alternative at all, but another license to kill Palestinian civilians that the US is determined to give Israel by submitting it to the UN Security Council this time. We urge the members of the Council not to support this destructive endeavor.” Nebenzia continued.

“By blocking international efforts to stop the violence in Gaza, Washington bears full responsibility for the unprecedented number of civilian victims of this escalation, the number of which has already approached 30,000. This is the price of the American veto in the UN Council.”

An urgent ceasefire and Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law was “the only way to prevent mass starvation in Gaza.”

However, “the US delegation continues to cynically argue that a ceasefire is almost dangerous because it will undermine some fragile US diplomacy on the ground.” 

On February 20, the US again blocked the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Thirteen of the 15 council members, including Russia and China, supported the document submitted by Algeria. The UK abstained and the US vetoed the call.

Now, the UN Security Council should sanction countries obstructing humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, Nebenzia said.

“It is also important not to forget that, according to the provisions of the abovementioned resolution, the Security Council has the right to consider imposing sanctions against those who obstruct humanitarian access to those in need. We believe that now is the time to activate this provision.” 

He slammed “the readiness with which a number of Western donors, even before the investigation was completed, suspended funding for UNRWA in the middle of the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, putting the agency’s activities on the verge of collapse”. This was nothing “other than blatant immoral donor blackmail and the politicization of humanitarian issues,” he said. 

In late January, several countries, including the US, the UK, Germany and Canada, cut UNRWA funding over claimed links to the radical Palestinian movement Hamas. No evidence supporting Nazi Israel’s claims was forcoming.