Tag: Hamas

Déjà Vu in the Middle East

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Middle East is back and it’s back in a way it usually does—a crisis between Israel and the Palestinians. The latest flare-up of violence in Gaza is the worst since 2014 and even after entering its second week, it shows little sign of easing. Though US President Joe Biden has finally joined calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants, the conflict has only been on an escalatory mode. This crisis started after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tension in East Jerusalem that culminated in clashes at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews. After warning Israel to withdraw from the site, Hamas began firing rockets at Israel leading to retaliatory airstrikes.

As part of its operation “Guardian of the Walls,” Israel has struck more than 800 different targets while Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have fired more than 3200 rockets. The narratives from the two sides diverge considerably as is to be expected. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has suggested that at least 130 of the close to 200 Palestinians killed so far have been combatants and the Palestinian health ministry, which in Gaza is controlled by Hamas, argues that almost 100 of the dead are women and children conveniently ignoring the deaths of militants. The IDF holds Hamas responsible for the deaths of civilians given its penchant for using ordinary civilians as human shields and exploiting it to its military advantage.

Given the structural challenge that Israel faces in tackling militants from Gaza, the IDF’s objectives are quite clear—establishing deterrence vis-a-vis Hamas by inflicting high enough costs so that it can have a sobering effect on Hamas behaviour in the future. While many would see in Israel’s response the use of disproportionate force, for IDF the challenge is to ensure that a non-state actor like Hamas working in tandem with some state actors gets the message that Israel has the wherewithal to respond to its provocations.

Yet, the costs for Israel this time around also include domestic challenges with riots between Israeli Arabs and Jews. Israel has also been receiving rocket fire from Lebanon and some other neighbouring territories, compounding its problems as the challenge emerges of the widening of this conflict. The Israeli Air Force has shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle that approached its border from Jordan. Track live updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict here

But the biggest challenge continues to be the management of international public opinion. As the crisis continues, Israel will come under pressure to de-escalate. After giving Israel a few days to sort the conflict out militarily, US President Joe Biden has begun to voice his support for a ceasefire, telling Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that the US is working with Egypt and other nations on stopping the violence. At the UN Security Council, however, the US continues to block the Security Council statement calling for a cessation of violence.

Washington continues to emphasise that “having those conversations behind the scenes… is the most constructive approach we [the US] can take.” There has always been a pattern in the US response to Israeli actions. It tends to shield Israel from global censure to ensure that Israel achieves its military objectives but as the civilian casualties mount, it brings to bear its pressure on Israel to come to terms with the cessation of the conflict.

America’s backing is the most important variable that Israel has to factor in its response. And while Biden has been trying to shift gradually from some of the most extreme positions taken by his predecessor when it comes to the Israel-Palestine issue, there is more continuity than change. In fact, the Biden administration has approved the potential sale of $735 million worth of precision-guided weapons to Israel earlier this week. Yet in the wider context of the Middle East, things are evolving rapidly with Biden trying to revive the JCPOA with Iran despite Israeli objections.

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More importantly, ever since the days of the Obama Administration, Washington has been making it clear that the Middle East is declining in the list of its strategic priorities. China’s rise and the growing focus on the Indo-Pacific is the real issue for the US. And Israel has worked diplomatically to build its ties with Arab players over the last few years. While public opinion in most Arab nations may have an anti-Israeli orientation, the Arab governments are reasonably well disposed to Israel. There is broader fatigue with the Palestinian issue in the Arab world and this vacuum has been filled by Iran and Turkey. The ongoing conflict is also a proxy war between Israel and Iran.

Even as these global realities exacerbate tensions, domestic political realities in Israel have also played a major role. Netanyahu was struggling to form a government before this crisis. Now he is once again in a position to rally the nation around his leadership. On the other hand, Hamas had been angered by the decision of President Mahmoud Abbas to call off planned elections. This crisis allows it to stoke Palestinian discontent with Abbas which in any case has enhanced the acceptability of Hamas among Palestinians over the years.

There is no real incentive for either side to back down without achieving some of their political objectives. The only player with some real leverage remains the US. And so the world waits for Washington’s entry into this maelstrom. Once that happens, we can expect some kind of de-escalation to happen pretty fast. But the underlying realities that have spawned this latest round of violence will remain where they are. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will go off the headiness for a while till another spasm of violence makes it impossible for the world to look the other way.

— Professor Harsh V Pant is Director, Studies and Head of the Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and Professor of International Relations at King’s College, London. The views expressed in the article are his own

Read his other columns here

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Israel and Hamas call truce after 11 days: Here’s how the conflict escalated

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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At least 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, have been killed in the airstrikes by Israel so far and over 1,900 people have been wounded in the escalation between Israel and Palestine that ended on Friday, news agency Reuters reported quoting Gaza’s health ministry.

Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said in an announcement, “I have received a phone call from President Biden in which we have exchanged visions around reaching a formula that would calm the current conflict between Israel and Gaza, our vision was in tune about managing the conflict between all parties with diplomacy,” according to Al Jazeera.

President Joe Biden said, “I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy,” the report added.

Calls for humanitarian aid have begun after the truce in order to help in rebuilding the battered areas of Gaza.

Meanwhile, let’s take a look at how the conflicts escalated into a war in the last ten-eleven days:

May 10: Hamas fires rockets

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad issued their ultimatum to Israel to remove its forces from the al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The following night, Hamas launched its first barrage of rockets into Israel. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) responded by launching its own airstrikes on several targets in the Gaza strip.

May 11: Protests in Israel

The Israeli air force bombed a Gaza tower block, with the IDF claiming that at least 15 of the reported civilian casualties from the incident were Hamas’s members. The IDF that the building housed senior Hamas officials. Gaza’s ministry of health said 24 people were killed, including nine children.

Hamas responded by sending a volley of rockets towards Tel Aviv, a mostly liberal and secular coastal city of Israel.

By evening, the protests had devolved into riots and mob violence with several reported clashes between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. The town of Lod witnessed the worst of the violence after an Arab man was killed at a protest. Emergency law was imposed after three synagogues and dozens of cars were burnt.

Israeli Border Police were called for reinforcement and dozens of arrests were made.

May 12: Coalition talks fail

Over 850 rockets are fired overnight from Gaza to Israel as many countries start sending diplomatic envoys to de-escalate the situation on the ground. The rocket strikes killed five Israelis and another Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile. At least 200 rockets fell within the boundaries of Gaza itself.

Meanwhile, coalition negotiations between two rivals of Benjamin Netanyahu fell apart due to the flare-up of violence.

May 13: Israel Intensifies Attack

Israel mobilised 9,000 of its reserve forces along the Gaza border as it threatened a full-scale invasion of the strip. A volley of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel hit the mark and landed in the sea instead.

Israel launched twin attacks from ground and air on Gaza. Israel claimed that it had targeted a Hamas military intelligence building.

Tensions worsened in Lod and several other cities despite increased police presence. Several groups in different countries held protests condemning Israeli action against Palestinian civilians even as Qatari, Egyptian and the UN diplomats tried to negotiate a ceasefire.

May 14: Hamas pays a heavy price

Israel air forces claimed that they dropped more than 450 bombs in 40 minutes using 80 tonnes of explosives targeting Hamas underground tunnels.

Hamas said 20 of its commanders were killed while IDF claimed that the number was higher and that most of Hamas’ rocket production capability was destroyed.

“I said we would extract a very heavy price from Hamas,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement.

Rockets from Syria were launched towards Israeli controlled Golan Heights but fell in uninhabited places.

Eleven protestors were killed in the West Bank when Palestinian protestors started flinging rocks after their evening prayers. Israeli forces responded with live ammunition and tear gas.

May 15: AP, Al Jazeera offices razed

The al-Jalaa building was levelled after being hit by four missiles by the IDF. The building housed offices of news organisations like Associated Press and Al Jazeera for over 15 years. The Israeli forces called the building owner to evacuate the building an hour before the strikes.

Just hours before the attack on the al-Jalaa building, an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza’s Shati refugee camp killed 10 members of an extended family.

May 16: Pope appeals for peace

The IDF reported that 40 rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Ashkelon and Ashdod even as Israel stepped up its campaign of airstrikes against targets in Gaza.

Fifteen Palestinians were killed in early morning airstrikes, according to officials in Gaza.

Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, denounced the violence and appealed for peace.

Rocket attacks continued through the day, hitting targets in Ashkelon, Ramat Gan and others.

May 17: Gaza COVID Centre hit

US blocked a UN Security Council statement after a third unsuccessful meeting in the week.

Gaza’s ran out of fuel as its only COVID-19 testing centre was hit by an IDF airstrike. Rocket attacks continued unabated.

The IDF also targeted Hamas naval boats during overnight strikes. Other targets that were struck overnight in Gaza included the compound of the Gaza city mayor and the homes of four senior Hamas’s commanders. Six rocket attacks were launched from south of Lebanon late in the evening, but the situation at the border was calm.

May 18: Biden again talks to Israel, calls for peace

Rocket alerts sounded near Sderot and other communities near the Gaza border even as there were increasing global calls for a ceasefire of the hostilities. Ashdod and Rehovot also sounded rocket sirens. Two Thai workers die and eight more are injured as a result.

US President Joe Biden reportedly put pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to conclude Israeli operations sooner than later. At the same time, Israel conducted more than 120 airstrikes across the Gaza strip though it failed in killing Hamas leader Muhammad Deif.

Egypt first offers a truce on May 20, reports said Hamas agreed while Israel didn’t agree at first.

Protests across the Lebanese and Palestinian border continue in a massive general strike. Protests were also seen in Sheik Jarrah.

May 19: IDF fires defensive rockets at Lebanon, protests grow

IDF says it dropped 122 bombs on Hamas tunnels during the night. 250 rockets and mortars launched towards Israel from Gaza. Among IDF targets was a weapon manufacturing unit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. IDF also fires at targets inside Lebanon that were said to be launching rockets.

Israeli PM Netanyahu briefs foreign diplomats that Israel wants to end the fighting.

Anti-semitic and anti-muslim attacks grow in Europe and North America following the conflict.

Controversy erupts over the blockade of aid going into the Gaza strip. 170 rioters to be indicted in Israel, only 15 of them Jewish

May 20: Ceasefire declared, with effect from 2 am local time

Eighty rockets launched from Gaza through the night but the rocket attack stops for over 6 hours as truce talks reach fruition.

Ceasefire declared to official start from 2 am local time on May 20. Concerns about Palestinian Islamic Jihad continuing its attack independently remain.

PM Netanyahu drew out the Gaza conflict to stop a possible opposition coalition from forming the government. Israel has seen 4 hung elections in the last 2 years.

Intermittent shelling and sirens before a truce was officially announced throughout the day. Poll reveals that 72 percent of Israelis believe that the conflict should continue without a ceasefire.

Stay tuned with our live blog for regular updates on Israel-Palestine conflict

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Don’t want to send soldiers to Gaza; empathise with the civilian population under Hamas: Israeli diplomat

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Israel and Palestine conflict is heading towards uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis – those are the word from the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres following a specially convened session of the UN Security Council.

While foreign ministers and ambassadors have called for a ceasefire, there are no signs of even a temporary truce. India has also called for immediate de-escalation, while strongly condemning all acts of violence.

This follows the deadliest day of violence in the conflict where two Israeli airstrikes killed 43 Palestinians including 8 children. With the latest casualties, the death toll in Gaza has climbed to 197, of these 58 are children and 34 are women. According to the IDF, 10 Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza.

Rony Yedidia Clein, Deputy Chief of Mission, Israel Embassy in New Delhi, said, “Israel really doesn’t have a choice in this matter because Hamas has been attacking for the past week almost with thousands of rockets and 10 Israelis were killed by Hamas rocket so Israel really has no choice but to defend its citizens and it has obligation to do so.”

On military option, she said, “That option is on the table, but we don’t see that is being something that we want to do right now. We are looking at continuing the way with airstrikes. We would rather not send our soldiers into Gaza, that becomes a whole different type of an operation and we rather not do that.”

On airstrikes on Hamas, she added, “We have been very careful about using precision, pinpoints to make sure that hits are on actual Hamas site, its launch pad, and command centre. I have to say that I really empathise with Palestinian mothers and families who have been living under the Hamas.”

For full interview, watch accompanying video…

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Here’s how Israeli military used media to trick Hamas

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Early Friday, just after midnight, the Israeli military put out an ominous statement to the media: “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.”

The terse statement set off frenzied speculation that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza — a much-feared scenario that would mark a bloody escalation of this week’s operation against Hamas militants. Some reporters were even told outright the incursion had begun.

Hours later, the military issued a “clarification.” There were no troops inside Gaza. But by then, several major news outlets had erroneously reported the ground offensive was under way.

While the army attempted to play down the incident as a misunderstanding, well-placed Israeli military commentators said the media had been used as part of an elaborate ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap that may have killed dozens of fighters.

“They didn’t lie,” said Or Heller, a veteran military correspondent on Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “It was a manipulation. It was smart and it was successful.”

This is how it unfolded:

Late on Thursday, after days of airstrikes, Israel announced it was calling up thousands of reservists and amassing troops along the border ahead of a possible ground invasion. In another sign of escalation, Israeli tanks stationed along the border opened fire at targets inside Gaza.

In previous rounds of fighting, ground incursions have resulted in widespread destruction in Gaza and heavy casualties on both sides.

That set the stage for the late-night deception. According to Heller, Israel began scrambling forces along the border in what appeared to be final preparations for an invasion. Then came the announcement to the media, issued simultaneously in Hebrew and Arabic on Twitter. There followed alerts in major outlets that the invasion was under way.

The Israeli moves sent Hamas fighters rushing into defensive positions in an underground network of tunnels known as the Metro, according to Heller and other Israeli reports.

Israel called in 160 warplanes and bombarded the tunnels for 40 minutes, the military said. Heller said it was his understanding that scores of militants had been killed, though he said it was impossible to say.

“What we saw tonight was a very sophisticated operation that had a media aspect to it,” Heller said.

Hamas has not commented on the incident, and it was impossible to confirm the Israeli reports.

Heller said veteran Israeli correspondents, who have close ties to the military and in many cases have served themselves, knew that there was no way Israel was sending troops across enemy lines at this stage. Heller and other military correspondents even put out statements on Twitter assuring the jittery public that there was no ground operation.

The Associated Press, based on its analysis of the army’s statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.

But others said the military had misled them or even lied when asked to clarify, turning the foreign media into an accessory of sorts.

Felicia Schwartz, correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, said she alerted news of a ground offensive after receiving explicit confirmation from Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman.

In a statement posted on Twitter, she said Conricus “told me directly, `There are ground troops in Gaza.’ That was the basis for a first story saying so. He retracted that statement two hours later and I changed the story to reflect that, and that is noted in the text and will be corrected.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Conricus blamed an “internal miscommunication.”

“These things can sometimes happen in the midst of a complex operation with many moving parts and with an unclear picture of what was happening,” he said. “As soon as I understood that I had the wrong information, I updated the relevant people with a clarification.”

Militaries around the world have long used deception and trickery against their enemies. Two years ago, the Israeli military reportedly faked the injuries of soldiers at the scene of a Hezbollah missile strike, going so far as to evacuate them to a hospital in a helicopter.

According to reports at the time, the army staged the injuries to trick Hezbollah into thinking it had inflicted casualties and therefore would agree to a cease-fire.

Friday’s misleading statement further strained what has often been a rocky relationship between the IDF and the foreign media.

Peter Lerner, a former military spokesman to the foreign media, said the Israeli public in general has long felt the international media focus too heavily on the Palestinian side of the story while minimizing Israeli concerns and suffering — and the army is similarly inclined.

Lerner said he felt it was unlikely the military intentionally lied, but damage was done regardless.

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Explained: How Jerusalem tensions triggered heaviest Israel-Palestine fighting in years

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Weeks of violent clashes in East Jerusalem have ignited the heaviest fighting in years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

At the core of the violence that has left dozens dead are tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over Jerusalem, which contains sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

As both sides appear to be digging in for more prolonged fighting, here are some of the factors that triggered the escalation.

Ramadan Protests, Jerusalem Evictions

Since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in mid-April, Palestinians have faced off nightly in East Jerusalem with Israeli police, who put up barriers to stop evening gatherings at the walled Old City’s Damascus Gate.

Palestinians saw the barriers as a restriction on their freedom to assemble. Police said they were there to maintain order.

Tensions have also been high over a long-running legal case that could see multiple Palestinian families evicted from their homes to make way for Israeli settlers who, backed by an Israeli court ruling, want to move in.

The violence quickly spread to the Old City compound containing the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam and the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hundreds of Palestinians have been injured in fighting with police in the compound and around the Old City in recent days.

‘Red Line’

Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas and other militant groups in the enclave repeatedly warned Israel that the fighting in Jerusalem was a “red line,” and vowed to fire rockets if Israeli police did not stop their raids on the Aqsa compound.

As Israel commemorated its capture of East Jerusalem in a 1967 war with a march on Monday, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group fired rocket barrages towards Jerusalem and its surrounding suburbs.

Israel had “ignited fire in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa and the flames extended to Gaza, therefore, it is responsible for the consequences,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said.

Within hours, Israeli warplanes began bombing militant targets in Gaza, with the military saying that civilian casualties “cannot be ruled out” in the densely populated coastal territory.

The fighting has since escalated dramatically with militants firing hundreds of rockets towards Tel Aviv and Israel carrying out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza.

Violence has also broken out in mixed Arab-Jewish cities across Israel, with members of Israel’s 21% Arab minority angry over the Jerusalem evictions and Gaza violence.

Hamas Interests, Israeli Politics

The most intensive aerial exchanges between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war in Gaza have prompted international concern that the situation could spiral out of control.

But Hamas also appeared to see the escalation as an opportunity to marginalise Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and present itself as the guardian of Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Hamas has amassed some 7,000 rockets, as well as 300 anti-tank and 100 anti-aircraft missiles, since the 2014 war, an Israeli military commander said during a briefing in February. Islamic Jihad has amassed 6,000 rockets, the commander said. The groups have neither confirmed nor denied the Israeli estimates.

Some Israeli commentators said Hamas could also see the timing as opportune with Israel in political flux as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents try to form a government that could unseat him after an inconclusive March 23 election.

Other commentators have said that Netanyahu appeared to be distracted by his trial on corruption charges he denies, allowing tensions to surge in Jerusalem and spill over into Gaza.

Gaza has for years had limited access to the outside world because of a blockade led by Israel and supported by Egypt, who both cite security concerns over Hamas for the restrictions.

Jerusalem at Core of Conflict

Politics, history and religion all place Jerusalem at the centre of the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City is the hill known to Jews across the world as Temple Mount — the holiest site in Judaism — and to Muslims internationally as The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity. Two Muslim holy places now stand there, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Christians also revere the city as the place where they believe that Jesus preached, died and was resurrected.

Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern section as a capital of a future state. Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem is unrecognised internationally.

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Israel reopens Gaza commercial crossing in sign of easing tensions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Israel reopened its commercial crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday but kept military reinforcements deployed on the volatile frontier, a day after a smaller than expected Palestinian protest along the border.

Gaza medical officials said four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during demonstrations on Saturday marking the first anniversary of the “Great March of Return” protests.

Around 200 Gazans have been killed by Israeli troops since the protests started on March 30 last year, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures. An Israeli soldier was also killed by a Palestinian sniper in July.

But while around 40,000 protesters, some hurling grenades and explosives, turned out on Saturday, according to the Israeli military, several signs pointed to pullback from wider confrontation amid Egyptian efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire that would also ease blockaded Gaza’s economic plight.

An Israeli military spokesman noted that there had been “significantly less violence” during Saturday’s protest, which organisers had billed a “million person march”, than in past weekly demonstrations.

In addition, hundreds of Palestinian men, some from Gaza’s ruling Hamas group, were deployed in bright orange vests to deter people from going near Israel’s border fence, a frequent flashpoint.

A Hamas official said Egyptian mediators were expected to hold talks in Israel to try to finalise a deal.

Israel, which considers Hamas to be a terrorist group, has maintained an official silence about any pending agreement, a week before a closely contested election in which rocket strikes from Gaza on Israeli border towns have become a main issue.

Trucks carrying food and fuel rolled into Gaza through the reopened Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday despite the firing of several rockets at southern Israel overnight and Israeli tank fire on Hamas positions in response. No injuries were reported on either side of the border.

FLARE-UP

The crossing had been closed on Monday after a rocket that wounded seven Israelis north of Tel Aviv touched off a two-day surge in cross-border violence.

Israel launched a wave of air strikes and ramped up its forces at the border after the rocket strike, as Egypt stepped up its mediation.

A prospective deal, according to three Palestinian officials close to the talks, would include steady Qatari-funded fuel supplies for Gaza, job creation projects and expansion of the territory’s fishing zone off the Mediterranean coast.

For their part, militant groups in Gaza agreed before Saturday’s protest to keep demonstrators from the border fence and stop the launching of incendiary balloons that have burned farmland in southern Israel, the officials said.

“Days separate us from achieving our demands. We are patient and the enemy is under a test,” Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s deputy Gaza chief, told the group’s Aqsa TV.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused by far-right rivals of being too soft on Hamas, said on Sunday he ordered Israeli forces to remain at “full strength” along the Gaza frontier.

But in public remarks on Thursday, he said Israel would undertake a broad military campaign in Gaza – Hamas and Israel last fought a war in 2014 – only after exhausting all other options.

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India abstains from voting on General Assembly resolution to condemn activities of Hamas

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India has abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly draft resolution put forward by the US that would have condemned the activities of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza

The resolution ‘Activities of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza’ got 87 votes in favour, 58 against with 32 abstentions.

The resolution failed to be adopted on Thursday as it could not garner two-thirds support in the General Assembly.

India was among the 32 countries that abstained from voting on the resolution which would have condemned Hamas for “repeatedly firing rockets into Israel and for inciting violence, thereby putting civilians at risk”, and for its use of resources in Gaza to construct military infrastructure including tunnels to infiltrate Israel and equipment to launch rockets into civilian areas.

The resolution had specified that further engagement by the UN Secretary-General, and the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, in efforts to de-escalate the situation in Gaza, was also needed.

Through a procedural vote held before the main vote on the resolution, the Assembly had voted to apply the two-thirds majority requirement for the adoption of the draft.

Before the voting, US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley said that despite more than 500 General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel, not one condemning Hamas has ever been adopted.

She described the two-thirds decision, which passed by just a handful of votes, as “unfair” adding that the Hamas resolution was an opportunity for States to “do the right thing.”

“There is nothing more anti-Semitic than saying we cannot condemn terrorism against Israel, while we would not hesitate for one minute to condemn the same acts if they were taken against any other country The people who have suffered by far the most because of Hamas are the Palestinian people. For their sake, the world should speak out against the destruction of Hamas and what it continues to cause,” she said.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said that the resolution had been a chance for “UN redemption” and that those who had voted against it “should be ashamed of themselves”.

He said Hamas exploits the people of Gaza, adding that the organisation is in flagrant violation of international law.

There is no difference between Hamas, and Al-Qaida and Boko Haram, he said, adding that as the Jewish people are celebrating Hanukkah, the plurality of Member States of the United Nations has chosen to condemn Hamas.

A number of States explained their reasons for voting against the resolution.
The Saudi Arabian representative stated that, since 1967, Israel has not respected any General Assembly or Security Council resolutions, whilst Kuwait and Iran’s representatives said that the resolution “ignores” and “deflects attention from” the root causes of the conflict.

The representative of Kuwait called for respecting relevant United Nations resolutions in efforts to address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and stressed the importance of a two State solution based on pre-1967 borders.

Speaking after action had been taken on the drafts, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine said the strong support for draft that was adopted was an unequivocal affirmation, especially significant in view of actions aimed at eroding the global consensus for a just solution for the Palestinian people.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow