12/13/2023 00:03 (current 12/13/2023 00:10)
Ten states voted against, including Austria ©APA/AFP
The United Nations General Assembly voted by a large majority in favor of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. 153 member countries voted in favor of the resolution, 23 abstained. Ten states voted against, including Austria, the USA and Israel. General Assembly resolutions are not binding, but reflect the global vision.
The text of the resolution corresponds to what was blocked by the US in the 15-member UN Security Council last week. However, no country has the right to veto in the General Assembly. The resolution also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and for the parties to the conflict to comply with international law – particularly with regard to the protection of civilians.
A US attempt to amend the text so that the Hamas attacks and hostage-taking were condemned did not meet the two-thirds majority of countries needed to accept it, nor did Austria's attempt to state in the resolution that hostages were taken. by Hamas will be detained.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a statement on Austria's electoral behavior: It is shameful that the UN General Assembly once again did not have the courage to call out Hamas by name. Austria's amendment was intended to take into account the fact that more than 100 innocent children, women and men are still held captive in Gaza and used as human shields by Hamas.
The released hostages' accounts of their experiences are shocking and show the inhumane barbarity with which Hamas operates. The lack of political will at the UN to give a name to this cruel reality is a slap in the face to all the victims and their families, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Austria advocates humanitarian pauses so that all remaining hostages can be released and so that urgently needed humanitarian aid can reach the Palestinian civilian population. An immediate humanitarian ceasefire would only give Hamas more room to intensify its terror. Once again, Israel was not granted the right to self-defense against terrorism, as guaranteed by international law. Austria therefore voted against the resolution.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that her country supported some aspects of the resolution – including the need to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, protect civilians and free hostages. A ceasefire, however, “would be dangerous for the Israelis, who would face relentless attacks, and also dangerous for the Palestinians, who deserve the opportunity to build a better future, free from Hamas.”
Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said a ceasefire means only one thing: “Ensuring the survival of Hamas and the survival of the genocidal terrorists who are committed to the destruction of Israel and the Jews.”
Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram said that if we deny people freedom and dignity, humiliate them and put them in an open-air prison “where we kill them as if they were beasts – then they become very angry and do to others what was done to them they have become.”