A look at the three previous UN ceasefire resolutions vetoed by the US
Before presenting a resolution to the United Nations Security Council on Friday calling for an “immediate and lasting ceasefire” in Gaza, the United States vetoed three previous resolutions demanding a halt to fighting .
The United States has long used its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council to block measures opposed by Israel, its closest ally. But the Biden administration has become increasingly vocal in criticizing Israel’s approach to the war against Hamas, and the resolution offered Friday reflected that, using the strongest language the United States has supported at the U.N. in an effort to end the war to pause. (The resolution failed after Russia and China vetoed it.)
Here’s a look at the three previous resolutions and how the US position has changed:
October
Less than two weeks after the war began in response to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, Brazil has submitted a resolution which condemned the attacks while calling for humanitarian access and protection of civilians in Gaza and the immediate release of hostages captured in the raid. The United States was the only no vote; Russia and Britain abstained, and the Council’s two other permanent members, France and China, voted in favor of approval along with the remaining ten members.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States cannot support the resolution without mentioning Israel’s right to self-defense.
December
The The United States cast the only dissenting vote against a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, a resolution that UN Secretary General António Guterres and some US allies, including France, supported. The vote was 13 to 1, with Britain abstaining.
At that point, the Biden administration began raising concerns about the war’s toll on civilians in Gaza. A day before the Security Council vote, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said: “It is imperative — and it remains imperative — that Israel places a premium on civil protection.”
But Robert A. Wood, the U.S. representative to the Security Council, said the United States cannot support a resolution that does not endorse Israel’s right to self-defense. He said after the vote that demanding an unconditional and immediate ceasefire was “not only unrealistic, but also dangerous – it would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on 7 October did.”
February
As Israel comes under increasing international pressure over the scope and intensity of its war effort, and the death toll in Gaza approaches 30,000, the United States again cast the sole vote against a ceasefire resolution. Thirteen Council members voted in favor of the resolution, which was drafted by Algeria, while Britain again abstained.
Ms Thomas-Greenfield said at the time that the resolution would have been compromised negotiations to broker a deal that would release hostages in exchange for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire. “Demanding an immediate unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring lasting peace,” she said.
But the United States had drafted a rival resolution calling for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire “as soon as practicable” and the release of hostages, the first time the term “ceasefire” has been used since the start of the war -fire’ used. That draft evolved into the resolution the United States presented on Friday, which called in stronger terms for an “immediate and lasting” cessation of fighting “in connection with” the release of the hostages.