An important step has been taken by the United Nations Security Council, even if it has come rather late. After 171 days of the war on Gaza, the Council adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, respected by all parties, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
We hope that this is the first step towards a permanent ceasefire and a victory for humanity.
The decision came with the support of 14 members, and with the United States abstaining from voting and also not using its veto power against the resolution presented by the ten non-permanent members of the Security Council, including Algeria, the only Arab member of the Council.
But the question is: Will the UN Security Council resolution lead to silencing the guns and changing the Israeli government’s position on the war on Gaza?
Israeli reactions following the Council’s decision prove that Tel Aviv does not recognise the UN Security Council itself and ignores its resolutions.
There have been many UN resolutions to which Israel has not complied. Evidence of that is what Gilad Erdan, Israeli ambassador to the UN, said after the resolution was adopted. He asked about the reason for what he described as the Security Council’s “discrimination” between the victims, saying that the Council condemned the attack on the Concert Hall in Moscow last Friday, but failed to condemn the Nova Music Festival attack on October 7.
What also indicates Israel’s implicit rejection of the Security Council resolution is Erdan’s claim that over the past 18 years, Hamas has launched continuous attacks, and fired thousands of random rockets against civilians, but the resolution failed to condemn Hamas. He said that the Security Council should have taken real measures, instead of releasing statements about the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Statements by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant also confirm that Israel will ignore the decision, saying there is no moral right for anyone to stop the war without liberating the kidnapped people.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the Security Council resolution “proves that the United Nations is anti-Semitic, and its Secretary-General is anti-Semitic, and encourages Hamas.”
“We must increase the escalation and continue fighting with all our might and at any cost to defeat Hamas after the recent international resolution,” Ben Gvir added.
Further evidence of Israel’s lack of commitment to the Security Council resolution are statements by Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz.
“Israel will eliminate Hamas, and will fight until the last of the kidnapped people return,” Katz said.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “We will not stop until the complete elimination of Hamas and the return of the kidnapped.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also cancelled the visit of an Israeli delegation to Washington, and described what happened as “a clear retreat from the United States’ consistent position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war” in response to its abstention from voting and failure to use its veto.
All of this confirms that Israel will continue to violate international resolutions and not recognise them as it has done previously done time and time again. Therefore, the international community must ensure that the bombing of the Gaza Strip and starvation of the Palestinians does not continue, and force Israel to implement the latest UN resolution.
Mohamed Fahmy is the editor-in-chief of The Egyptian Gazette and Egyptian Mail newspapers
