Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, has condemned the Biden administration after the United States vetoed a resolution in the United Nations Security Council on Friday that would have called for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. Israeli officials have said that 1,200 people in Israel were killed in Hamas’ attack, according to the Associated Press, while over 17,000 Palestinians have been killed, officials from the health ministry in Gaza said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is “at war” and has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine to Gaza.
On Friday, the U.S. blocked a U.N. resolution calling for the ceasefire in Gaza and immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Hamas took roughly 240 during its surprise attack. Over 100 of them were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel during a weeklong ceasefire last month.
Out of the 15 countries on the U.N. Security Council, 13 voted in favor of the resolution, the U.S. voted against, and the United Kingdom abstained.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Reacting to the news, Cortez wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, “Shameful. The Biden Admin can no longer reconcile their professed concern for Palestinians and human rights while also single-handedly vetoing the UN’s call for ceasefire and sidestepping the entire US Congress to unconditionally back the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.”
Newsweek reached out to Cortez and the White House via email for comment.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent aligned with the Democratic Party, also denounced the U.S. for vetoing the resolution.
“At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are facing horrific conditions, the U.S. should not be vetoing a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all hostages,” Sanders wrote on X on Sunday. “The children in Gaza need food, water, and medical supplies. We must do everything possible to make that happen NOW.”
Protests have erupted around the world with calls for a ceasefire in Gaza as fears of Palestinian treatment worsen. A group of progressive Congress members, including Cortez, have also been vocal in their support for a ceasefire, and critical toward President Joe Biden for his administration’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
While the Biden administration has acknowledged that Israel has not done enough to protect civilians in Gaza, it has refused to call for a ceasefire as the White House claims it would give Hamas a chance to strike against Israel again.
“It is imperative—it remains imperative—that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Thursday. “And there does remain a gap between exactly what I said when I was there, the intent to protect civilians, and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.”
Earlier this week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
“There is a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza, which would have devastating consequences,” he said.
Meanwhile, Robert A. Wood, who represented the U.S. during Friday’s veto, called the resolution “not only unrealistic but dangerous; it will simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on 7 October,” according to a post Friday on the U.N.’s website.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.