A Little Bragging.

(source)

To help de-escalate the Gaza crisis António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, has pleaded for:

1. Release of hostages.
2. Ceasefire.
3. Humanitarian access to Gaza, so that essential supplies of food, water, medicine, and fuel are delivered immediately.

That sounds reasonable to me. More importantly, Australian organisations, ranging from the ACTU to charities – independently of the UN – were already asking the Albanese Government to lobby “like-minded” nations for something like that. So, I wasn’t surprised when last week two UN Security Council members proposed draft resolutions reflecting similar requests.

A week ago today, on Monday 16th, the Russian Federation submitted to the SC a draft resolution calling for “a humanitarian ceasefire, release of all hostages, aid access, and safe evacuation of civilians”.

To be approved such proposals need no less than nine votes from the 15 SC members (ten non-permanent members[*], plus the five permanent members with veto power: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States).

Four countries voted against the draft (France, Japan, the UK, and the US – unsurprisingly) and six abstained (Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Malta, and Switzerland). With only five votes (China, Gabon, Mozambique, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates) the proposal was rejected.

Upon hearing that Western readers – particularly ABC journos – would sigh with relief, I suppose: coming as it did from Russia, that proposal must have been malevolent, a kind of a Trojan horse. The evil inherent in anything Russian, no doubt cleverly hidden in its wording, would have materialised if the draft had been approved. That the death toll in Gaza keeps rising is a price they are eager to pay, so long as the ultimate victory of the unadulterated good the West and they represent is not compromised.

----------

Two days later another draft resolution – proposed as alternative to the Russian one – bit the dust.

This one added measures to the Russian draft, to make it more comprehensive:

1. Humanitarian pause in the fighting
2. Condemnation of violence and terrorism
3. Release of hostages
4. Protection of medical and humanitarian personnel
5. Provision of essential goods and services
6. Rescission of evacuation order

This draft, however, could not be dismissed out of hand as evident spawn of wickedness, as the Russian one: its sponsor was Brazil.

Perhaps because of that only two countries, Russia and the UK, abstained, and only one voted against (guess which).

Yes, 12 members of the Security Council – more than enough to pass the draft – voted for it: Albania, Brazil, China, France, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, and United Arab Emirates. The US is not in that list, because it voted against it.

That achievement of Brazilian diplomacy, however, will make no difference whatsoever, because of the US.

Question: can you guess why?

Answer: because the US exercised its veto power. Yes, that’s right, it’s not only the Russkies who exercise their veto power, the Yanks do as well.

I said it once, I’ll repeat it again: this is no accident. It’s a constituent part of the much hyped “international rules-based order”.

----------

As an Australian citizen and voter, I demand the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs – who’s paid to represent Australian interests – to condemn the American abuse of its veto power, as she condemned that of the Russians.

----------

Who Bombed Al-Ahli Arab Hospital?

The narrative that’s becoming dominant among the self-described educated in Australia is that “it was done by the other team [the Palestinians], not you [the Israelis]”. Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, from Israel, set forth the American-Israeli version to the ABC: allegedly, a rocket launched by Islamic Jihad – a minor Islamist group based in Gaza – and aimed at Israel went astray and accidentally hit the hospital.

In short: Palestinian evil backfired.[@] And the delightful irony is that key evidence supporting that narrative, according to the Israelis, comes from an Al Jazeera Arabic video.

The thing is Al Jazeera explains how the Israelis misinterpret that video.



Notes:
[*] Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, and United Arab Emirates.
[#] Albania, Brazil, China, France, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, and United Arab Emirates.
[@] Well, the Israelis add a detail: the Palestinians – all of them, without exception – are liars, so the blast may have killed some Palestinians, but much fewer than they claimed.