US double standards and hypocrisy in the United Nations

Revista Amanecer

Israel´s war crimes are the result of the hypocrisy of the international community and the total alignment of the US government with the Zionist state. This US policy grants the Israelis permission to kill Palestinian people and destroy its legitimate rights by means of an oppressive economic and military siege. Whenever Israel commits a massacre, the US typical and cynical response is that Israel has the right “to defend itself”. Thus, Washington throws the blame on victims, that is, the Palestinians. Actually, it is the Palestinians who have the right to defend themselves as their struggle is a legitimate reaction to the illegal Israeli occupation.

By boycotting the elected government of Hamas since January, the US and the EU have been collectively punishing 3.5 million Palestinians, third of them are known to be children. Although article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention forbids collective punishments, the US and the EU have ignored this rule. This means that the US and the EU use a double standard that demolishes the fundamental basis of international relations. Meanwhile, the Israeli government keeps on ignoring all UN resolutions passed against it, and engages in a murderous policy targeting innocent civilians. It is a policy of clear state terrorism carried out in the midst of international silence, which actively encourages Israel to continue its brutal and bloody aggression.

The Israeli atrocity came in for debate in the UN Security Council, which met at the request of the 22-nation Arab League and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference. The 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement also backed the Arab and Muslim-sponsored draft. However, the US vetoed such a draft. In June, the US had already vetoed another Security Council resolution demanding that Israel halt its offensive in the Gaza Strip. On the whole, the US has used its veto at the UN 31 times in order to stop resolutions condemning Israeli crimes.

On 18th November, the UN General Assembly, which reflects the opinion of the international community, passed a resolution on “Illegal Israeli Actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” which said the assembly regretted the deaths of 19 civilians in the Beit Hanoun massacre the previous week.

Shortly after the approval of the resolution by the General Assembly, US Ambassador to the UN, extremist neocon John Bolton, launched a furious attack on the international organization. “In a larger sense, the United Nations must confront a more significant question, that of its relevance and utility in confronting the challenges of the 21st century,” he said. Actually, he was threatening the UN to submit itself to US or “become irrelevant” as Bush once said. Despite the mild tone of the resolution, which just “regretted” the Israel massacre -the original text “condemned” Israel over the Beit Hanoun massacre and its operations in the Gaza Strip-, Bolton accused the UN of having “anti-Israel bias.”

The US hypocrisy and double standards again became clear some days after when the US quickly promoted the setting up of a special international tribunal to investigate the murder of Lebanese minister of Industry, Pierre Gemayel. Therefore, the same government that protects with its veto the Israeli war crimes and considers that the lives of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, worth nothing has imposed the world the creation of a court to investigate the death of one only man. Of course, Washington is not seeking any kind of justice here, but it wants to manipulate the tribunal in order to put more pressure on Syria, which has been unilaterally accused by the US, without any serious evidence, of being responsible for the murder.

Actually, the vote in the UN General Assembly has once again showed the isolation of the United States within the world. The resolution was passed by 156 countries. Only the US, Israel, Australia and four tiny Pacific islands voted against it. All European countries, including the United Kingdom, voted for the resolution. The Palestinian government spokesperson Ghazi Hamad, said the veto of that same resolution in the Security Council was “a shame on the American administration, which says it is trying to promote human rights and democracy in the Middle East.” For his part, Palestinian UN Observer Riyad Mansour told the General Assembly that the US veto had sent a message to Israel “that it can continue to commit crimes and acts of outright aggression with impunity.”