The United States had good reasons to push for the “humanitarian pause” articulated by Brazil in the war against Israel. Given the broad support for the proposed resolution among the 15 members of the UN Security Council, five permanent and 10 rotating, Joe Biden’s administration knew it would be the sole dissenting voice, isolated within the council itself and attract rain and rain would thunder from the Arab world and societies around the world.
This happened after Brazil recognized the delaying maneuver and submitted the resolution for a vote. All rotating members, including Japan, a U.S. ally, voted for the pause to protect civilians who have already suffered so much in this war. Of the five permanent members, two voted in favor, France and China, and two abstained, Russia and the United Kingdom, which is seen as a positive since abstention does not prevent approval.
US President Joe Biden meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Israel. Photo: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
With its veto power, the US was the only one to overturn the consensus resolution, claiming that the text did not provide for Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas terrorist attack. Itamaraty and Planalto respond: This right is legitimate and already guaranteed by international law, it simply cannot be confused with causing the forced displacement of more than a million people and the imposition of inhumane conditions on entire families of civilians without shelter or water. , light , food and medicine.
Why not authorize a temporary, geographically limited lull in the war, other than a ceasefire? Meanwhile, the US sent the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Security and finally President Joe Biden himself to Tel Aviv to ratify its historic and unconditional alliance with Israel and negotiate on its own, and not with the United Nations, not in alliance with the international community . Owner of the world?
The Brazilian negotiators succeeded in reviving the US’s arrogant contempt for the country U.N., which was already clear when they shrugged their shoulders in the Security Council and unilaterally decided to invade Iraq in 2003, in the first year of President Lula’s first term in office. Worse still: based on a wealth of fake news. The world saw that the Iraqis did not even have an arsenal, let alone chemical and biological weapons.
In addition, according to Brazilian assessments, the USA is chipping away at its image as a great democracy that defends multilateralism and promotes respect for human rights and international law. They also lost arguments against Russia in the war in Ukraine and revived antiAmericanism, especially in the Arab world, but not only. Jordan canceled the meeting with Biden, Egypt will host a meeting on the issue this Saturday without the US and demonstrations against Washington took place in France, Turkey, Lebanon… All this a year before the American presidential elections, whereby Biden went into a tailspin and Donald Trump got scared.
Brazil had neither a win nor a clear defeat, as fans on both sides expected, but to be fair: Itamaraty returned to action, Chancellor Mauro Vieira was tireless, Ambassador Sérgio Danese coordinated the UN Council meetings well. And international advisor Celso Amorim and Brazilian diplomacy also played an active role in the agreement between Venezuela and the United States and in the withdrawal of more than a thousand nationals from Israel.
We now need to repatriate about 30 Brazilians who are stranded in Gaza and are at high risk, but that depends more on Israel and Egypt than on the Brazilian government. By the way, this is not about the different versions about who bombed the hospital in Gaza, killing 500 people. “We will not get into this quagmire,” summarized the frontline negotiators, illustrating the dimension of Brazil’s actions: “We are doing what is possible.”