Russia abstained, so the rest of the members of the U.N. Security Council voted in favor of a resolution backing a ceasefire. The other fourteen members of the council voted for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. They have all been calling for this ceasefire since five minutes after we found out that Hamas had attacked Israel, during a ceasefire, without prior written notice. The 1189 murdered Israelis were not notified in advance, as a BBC anchor asked of a former IDF spokesman about the recent hostage rescue.
Take a look at the image at the top of this post. The one with the creepy (AF) mural. The U.N. Security Council meeting room in the General Assembly looks like an Alfred Hitchcock/Rod Serling collaboration on a sterile, dystopian society where life and death decisions are made by an elite committee of soulless bureaucrats and bloodthirsty autocrats. Oh. Wait. Ignore the scary people in the expensive building in Midtown Manhattan.
About that ceasefire, here was the NY Times first take last night:
The U.N. Security Council on Monday adopted a U.S.-backed cease-fire plan for the Gaza Strip after Russia opted not to block it, adding extra heft to a growing international push for an end to the fighting.
Fourteen of the 15 Council members voted in favor, with Russia — which has veto power — abstaining.
In passing the resolution, the Council delivered a diplomatic victory to Washington, which had vetoed three previous cease-fire resolutions before the Council.
“The only way to end this cycle of violence and build a durable peace is through a political settlement,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said that the United States would work to make sure that Israel agreed to the deal and that Qatar and Egypt would work to bring Hamas to the negotiating table.
“Colleagues, today we voted for peace,” she said.
I bet Thomas-Greenfield was a teacher’s pet in middle school. Listen, Hamas voted for war on October 7. The U.N. Security Council has the power of a toothless cat.
This is what the voting looked like last night.
God help us if these nimrods ever get real power. Speaking of Power: Samantha Power is the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and first came to D.C. with Barack Obama. She encourages Hamas to take the ceasefire deal:
Today, the @UN Security Council sent a resounding message on Gaza: pic.twitter.com/ITTa2SGypk
— Samantha Power (@PowerUSAID) June 10, 2024
Power says Hamas should “Take the deal.” As our Nina told you ten days ago, the deal is trash. Read her full take here. This ceasefire resolution approved by the U.N. Security Council puts everything on Israel. According to USA Today, the Hamas leaders are down with Samantha Powers:
Hamas leaders responded favorably to the resolution, saying in a statement that it “affirmed the permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the complete withdrawal, the prisoners’ exchange, the reconstruction (of Gaza), the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, the rejection of any demographic change or reduction in the area of the Gaza Strip, and the delivery of needed aid to our people in the Strip.”
Of course the U.N. Security Council, Samantha Power and Hamas love this deal, Gaza gets everything, as the Times article lays out:
The resolution laid out a three-phase plan that begins with an immediate cease-fire, the release of all hostages in exchange for Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, the return of displaced Gazans to their homes and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The second phase calls for a permanent cease-fire with the agreement of both parties, and the third phase would consist of a multiyear reconstruction plan for Gaza and return of the remains of deceased hostages.
“The proposal says if the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the cease-fire will still continue as long as negotiations continue,” the resolution said. It also rejected “any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza.”
Israel’s representative to the U.N., Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, did not say that Israel had accepted the terms, but said her country’s goals in the war had not changed and that it would use military operations to free hostages as it did just two days ago.
Darn skippy! Keep on with those epic military operations:
“We will continue until all of the hostages are returned and Hamas’s military capabilities are dismantled,” Ms. Shapir Ben-Naftaly told the Council. She said if Hamas leaders freed all hostages and turned themselves in, “not one shot would be fired.”
Easy Peasy. It’s always been that easy. It would have been best if Hamas stayed home on October 7 and killed each other rather than the innocents. Right now, Hamas could release one year old Kfir Bibas and his four-year old brother Ariel. Hamas can’t or won’t release them because Hamas is flat evil. This ceasefire deal will fail again.
Featured Image: Dan Nguyen/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons
GWB says: “The only way to end this cycle of violence and build a durable peace is through a political settlement,”
And, right there, you’re absolutely, totally, grievously wrong. The only way to end this cycle of violence is to eliminate the source of energy for the cycle – the Gazans. And they have ensured the only way to do that is with violence.
Today, the @UN Security Council sent a resounding message on Gaza
Yes. It was that “we are so mired in our Progressive view of the world that we will continue to hold to idiotic beliefs like ‘violence never solved anything’ and ‘states are all perfectly rational actors’ and ‘if we have a fancy enough building and legitimate every single “leader” in the world, then we can all kumbaya and have peace forever,'” And no amount of reality will ever change that.
the delivery of needed aid to our people in the Strip
More of that “Pottery Barn” crap from the Progressives. No, I broke it because you attacked and harmed me. I don’t now have to fix it or buy it or anything else. YOU deal with it.
the release of all hostages in exchange for Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons
No. You release all the hostages, and you get nothing. Period.
The second phase calls for a permanent cease-fire with the agreement of both parties
They already had that. The Gazans broke it. They killed ~1,200 Israelis.
The ancient way of “just war” would have gone in and taken 12,000 Gazan children and executed them in front of their parents. Then they would have sought out and killed every last perpetrator and torched their homes with their families inside. They would have trusted that was enough of an example to prevent further problems. If it wasn’t they would have eliminated the problem tribe in toto.
So, count yourselves lucky. If *I* were in Netanyahu’s position, I would be very much a traditionalist about this.
“We will continue until all of the hostages are returned and Hamas’s military capabilities are dismantled,”
Just understand their military capabilities lie not in material but in personnel. And carry on.
if Hamas leaders freed all hostages and turned themselves in, “not one shot would be fired.”
There would be ths sound of doors in floors banging open, though. And the soft twang of rope being rapidly stretched tight. But it would be just that select group, not anyone that stands in the way,
John C. says: There will be a permanent ceasefire once Israel has completely defeated Hamas. It won’t be too much longer. Everybody just needs a little patience.
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