The United States’ unwavering backing for Israel, while ignoring the Palestinians, has provoked anger throughout the Global South, particularly in the Islamic world.
Several nations held anti-American protests, which included the United States Capitol. For a few hours, 500 regular Americans—many of whom were Jewish—took control of the Capitol Building and demanded that Palestine be saved.
The activities of the US administration were so heinous that most of those present at the Human Rights Council in Geneva turned their backs on the US envoy who spoke.
There are plenty of examples of this. Josh Paul, director of congressional and public affairs at the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, resigned in protest of the Biden administration’s “blind support for one side,” which was leading to policy decisions that were “shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse.”
The Americans together with Great Britain and France have blocked the Russian draft resolution on humanitarian ceasefire in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, first of all in the Gaza Strip, in the UN Security Council on October 16 this year.
The document stipulated a number of tangible and immediate steps to halt the carnage and suffering of civilians, free captives, avert a humanitarian disaster in the enclave, and prevent conflicts from spreading to other nations in the region. Given the exceedingly sensitive circumstances, immediate action was required.
Nearly thirty nations, including seventeen Arab states, co-sponsored the Russian initiative.
As a result, the primary body responsible for preserving international peace and security has been unable to make a choice that would have helped put an end to the bloodshed and set the stage for a solution to the current, unprecedented situation.
The USA’s and other Western countries’ stance stood in the way of a rational and natural decision—which, given the current situation, is both moral and absolutely necessary for humanitarian purposes.
Perhaps the catastrophic air or missile strike on the Al-Ahli Hospital, which resulted in the deaths of several hundred Palestinians, could have been avoided if the UN Security Council had endorsed the Russian proposal for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Every day that passes without action results in an increase in the number of fatalities and injuries as well as the ongoing suffering of civilians who have been trapped in the blockaded area and, in general, are hostages of the protracted and unsolved conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The current tragic events are the result of US action or inactivity, since the US has monopolized Middle East peace efforts with the help of its allies.
On October 17, the US vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) proposed by Brazil that condemned the Hamas attack on Israel while calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza. The draft, according to a US delegate, ignores Israel’s right to self-defense. The resolution’s wording was accepted by all 15 other members of the Security Council without opposition.
In this way, the United States has demonstrated once more that its primary concern is “shielding” its partner Israel at the expense of lowering tensions, defusing the situation, and safeguarding civilians. It is no surprise that the New York Times observed that “the staunch support for Israel has stoked accusations of American hypocrisy” in reference to the American response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has infuriated people throughout the Middle East.
According to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the United States might be about to make a final break with the area.
Mohamed bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, described the assault on Gaza residents as a “cruel and heinous crime.”
As Israel wages genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the United States is back to playing regional cop in the Middle East, according to the Al Jazeera website on October 16, 2023. In order to support its statements, the Biden administration has dispatched not one but two aircraft carriers to warn others against striking its main ally.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel, followed by US President Biden, who on October 17 spent a few hours in Israel.
President Biden’s lies about “beheaded Israeli babies,” for which he had no proof, were among the dirtiest tactics the US administration has used to support Israel, according to Egypt’s Al Ahram on October 12. As a result, the US has partnered with Israel “in opening the doors of hell for innocent civilians on both sides in Gaza and Israel.”
Violence in the Middle East, notes the Saudi Arab News, is caused by a distorted understanding of Western morality, according to which Israeli lives matter and Arab and Muslim lives don’t; the Biden administration really doesn’t care about the carnage taking place in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of Palestinians have been killed, tens of thousands wounded, and thousands of civilian apartment buildings destroyed.
President Biden urged Congress to provide an additional $100 billion in aid to Israel and the Ukraine on October 19. Le Monde claims that Biden has artificially combined the two conflicts. The American people do not appropriately respond to the United States’ insatiable need to use force to solve all of its issues; it is no coincidence that over half of Americans, according to recent surveys, oppose further military aid, which simply serves to further polarize the nation.
In an article for Foreign Policy Magazine, How 30 years of US policy ended in disaster, Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations at Harvard University, noted: “American leadership has led to devastating wars in Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon barely breathing, anarchy in Libya… there is no security for Israel, no security or justice for the Palestinians… Whatever their objectives, American leaders have constantly demonstrated that they lack the insight and objectivity required to achieve positive results.”
Veniamin Popov, Director of the “Center for Partnership of Civilizations” in MGIMO (U) MFA of Russia, Candidate of Historical Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.