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UN Security Council

Lebanon Demands ‘Firm Stance’ From UNSC Over Israeli Ceasefire Violations

February 4, 2025 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , , , ,
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has filed a complaint against Israel to the UN Security Council (UNSC) over its constant violations of the ceasefire that was reached at the end of last year. Lebanon expressed its rejection of “systematic Israeli attacks and violations” and Israel’s removal of the signs on the withdrawal line in southern Lebanon, in the complaint filed on 4 February. Beirut also demanded that the UNSC issue a firm and clear position on Israel’s continuous violations and oblige it to respect the terms of the ceasefire agreement. The complaint called on the Security Council to back support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and UNIFIL forces “to guarantee the protection of the Lebanese sovereignty and the safety of the Lebanese citizens.”

Gaza And United Nations Veto Power

June 10, 2024 Dan Becker, Consortium News. , , , , , ,
In the United Nations Charter, the very sentence that establishes the Security Council’s permanent-five veto power ends — surprisingly — in these nine words:  “. . . a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting.” Let’s allow the phrase to sink in for a moment before acknowledging that there is indeed a host of conditions, requirements, litmus tests and hoops to jump through before the phrase can be invoked and applied to a resolution. But at the same time, it’s also crucial and a bit remarkable to remember that the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — are not exempt. They must abstain as well. So there it is, this little-known mechanism hiding in plain sight in Article 27 (3). It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the U.N. Charter. It gets no respect.

USA And Israel Defy World In Vote To Make Palestine Full UN Member

May 12, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. , , , , , , , ,
The vast majority of countries on Earth voted at the United Nations General Assembly to endorse full membership for Palestine. On May 10, 143 of the UN’s 193 member states supported a resolution that called to make Palestine a full member. However the United States, Israel, and seven small countries, representing just 5% of the global population, stood against the rest of the planet, opposing the measure. In April, the US government used its veto power in the UN Security Council to kill a resolution that would have allowed Palestine to be recognized as a full member. Palestine is an observer state in the United Nations, but without the approval of the Security Council, it cannot be admitted as a full member.

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 147: No Ceasefire In Sight

March 1, 2024 Anna Lekas Miller, Mondoweiss. , , , , , ,
Over the past twenty-four hours, the international community has widely condemned the Israeli “flour massacre,” when Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds of Palestinians waiting in line for food distribution, killing more than 100 people and injuring at least 760 others. “Crimes and massacres against defenseless Palestinians kill people every day and foster terrorism and extremism in the region,” said the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement. China is one of many countries that has also condemned the killings.

US Slammed For Providing Israel With ‘License To Kill’ Palestinians

February 29, 2024 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
According to three different agencies of the UN, over half a million Palestinians are on the verge of famine if heavy interruption of humanitarian aid persists and a ceasefire does not take effect in Gaza soon. The fear was echoed by several countries who also held the US equally responsible for such a catastrophe. The World Food Program (WFP), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) representatives briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Gaza at a special meeting called by Guyana, Switzerland, Algeria, and Slovenia on Tuesday, February 27.

United States Kills Fourth United Nations Call For Peace In Gaza

February 22, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. , , , , , , , , , ,
The United States has since October voted against four United Nations Security Council resolutions that called for peace in Gaza. Top UN officials have called for a ceasefire, but the US government has stood in their way, facilitating further violence. In January, the highest UN judicial authority, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruled that Israel must abide by the Genocide Convention and stop killing Palestinians. But Tel Aviv ignored the Hague’s decision and killed thousands more Palestinian civilians. By vetoing a fourth Gaza-related Security Council resolution on February 20, and by continuing to provide weapons to Israel, the US government has helped Israel violate an ICJ order.

US Threatens To Veto New Ceasefire Resolution At UN Security Council

February 19, 2024 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com. , , , , , , , ,
US is threatening to veto a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN Security Council as the US continues to provide political cover for the Israeli massacre of Palestinians. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement that if the resolution, which is being drafted by Algeria, was brought to a vote, it would not be adopted. Thomas-Greenfield justified US opposition to a ceasefire by pointing to US efforts to push for a new hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vetoed hostage talks last week, and Qatar, the mediator of the negotiations, said Saturday that things were not looking “promising.”

Israel Launches Airstrikes Against Syria

February 8, 2024 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
Israel launched missile attacks on Homs and surrounding areas in Syria in the early morning of Wednesday, February 7 killing scores of civilians and destroying significant civilian infrastructure hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the country. “At approximately 00:30 at dawn on Wednesday, the Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack with missiles from the direction of northern Tripoli” Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. Citing unnamed sources, SANA also said that some of the Israeli missiles were intercepted by the Syrian air defense. According to Al-Mayadeen, at least four civilians were killed and seven others were wounded in the attacks.

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 78: UNSC Resolution Criticized As ‘Meaningless’

December 23, 2023 Anna Lekas Miller, Mondoweiss. , , , , , ,
Israeli forces continue to target Al-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in Central Gaza, killing at least 18 people, including a WAFA correspondent and five children. More than 150,000 civilians in the surrounding areas have been told to evacuate towards Deir al-Balah, even though Deir al-Balah has also experienced recent attacks. “There is no place that is safe,” Salem Sheikh, an elderly man from the Nassr neighborhood in the west of Gaza City told Al-Jazeera. “They [the Israeli army] told us to leave, so I fled to Al Shifa Hospital where I stayed for a month and a half.  I then left to Nuseirat,” he continued.

Col. Ann Wright Briefs United Nations On Threats To Peace And Security

December 21, 2023 Col. Ann Wright, Peace & Planet News. , , , , , ,
Following in the footsteps of Ray McGovern, Jeffery Sachs, Max Blumenthal and Randy Credico , Col. Ann Wright was asked to speak Monday, Dec. 11, at the U.N. Security Council on weapons being supplied to conflict areas and their role in preventing resolution of those conflicts. She prepared a statement that focused on the current Israeli assault on Gaza, but two hours before the meeting she was informed that since the meeting was on Ukraine, if she spoke about Gaza instead, the president of the council would cut her off and she would lose the opportunity to speak. She quickly amended her statement to focus more on Ukraine, and you can hear the remarks as she gave them in the video below.

UNGA Discusses Gaza Ceasefire After US Veto In Security Council

December 13, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
The United Nation General Assembly is meeting on Tuesday, December 12 in an emergency session to discuss the Israeli war in Gaza. This is after Egypt and Mauritania jointly invoked the rarely-used resolution 377 A (V) on Monday. The move follows the failure of the UN Security Council last week to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza due to a US veto. The Uniting for Peace resolution was invoked by Egypt as the chair of the Arab group in the UN and Mauritania as the chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The resolution was first adopted by the General Assembly in November 1950 during the Korean War making itself an alternative platform to work for peace in case the permanent members of the Security Council fail to execute the fundamental task of the international body.

US Blocks Peace In Gaza, Supporting Israel’s Genocidal War On Civilians

October 24, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. , , , , , ,
While Israel indiscriminately bombs the Gaza strip, killing thousands of Palestinian civilians, the United States has blocked numerous ceasefire proposals at the United Nations Security Council. Instead of supporting peace, Washington has sent more weapons and military aid to Israel. Meanwhile, mainstream Western human rights organizations have clearly stated that Israel is carrying out rampant war crimes, wiping out entire families. A top UN expert warned “that Palestinians are in grave danger of mass ethnic cleansing”.

Shouldn’t The United Kingdom And France Relinquish Their Permanent Seats At The United Nations?

September 29, 2023 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , , ,
At its fifteenth summit in August 2023, the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) group adopted the Johannesburg II Declaration, which, amongst other issues, raised the question of reforming the United Nations, particularly its security council. To make the UN Security Council (UNSC) ‘more democratic, representative, effective, and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries’, BRICS urged the expansion of the council’s membership to include countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The declaration specifically noted that three countries – Brazil, India, and South Africa – should be included if the UNSC’s permanent members are expanded.

The Global South Is Trying To Fix The United Nations

May 22, 2023 Ramzy Baroud, MintPress News. , , ,
In anticipation of next month’s United Nations Security Council talks on reforming the inherently archaic and dysfunctional political body, China’s foreign policy chief, Yang Yi, stated his country’s demands. “The reform of the Security Council should uphold fairness and justice, increase the representation and voice of developing countries, allowing more small and medium-sized countries to have more opportunities to participate in the decision-making of the Council,” Wang Yi said in a statement on April 29. More specifically, the new UNSC must “redress historical injustices against Africa”.

Washington Threatens Military Action Against Iran After UN Meeting

July 6, 2020 Staff, Middle East Eye. , , ,
"The international community in general - and the UN Security Council in particular - are facing an important decision: do we maintain respect for the rule of law, or do we return to the law of the jungle by surrendering to the whims of an outlaw bully?" Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said of Washington's recent moves. Several delegates at the Security Council meeting criticized US President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Obama-era nuclear accord, challenging its ability to legally trigger the deal's sanctions "snapback".  Russia's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, called the US campaign "a maximum suffocation policy" "The task is to achieve regime change or create a situation where Iran literally wouldn't be able to breathe," Nebenzia said during the meeting.  "This is like putting a knee to one's neck," he continued, in a nod to the May killing of George Floyd, a Black man whose death at the hands of a white police officer sparked massive unrest in the US. 
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