The United States has blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza as it moves forward with efforts to stop an Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have fled.
Thirteen of the Security Council's 15 members voted in favor of the text proposed by Algeria, the only Arab state currently on the council. The United States, which has veto power, blocked the resolution, and the United Kingdom abstained.
G20 split due to Israel-Hamas war, risk of paralysis
The G20 nations are so divided over the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine that they will be forced to reduce the scope of the forum this year to avoid geopolitical issues altogether, officials said. It is said that there is a possibility.
One of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said removing all politically sensitive topics from the G20 statement would diminish the relevance of the format. But it would give the group a chance to reach agreement on other issues.
G20 foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Rio de Janeiro starting Wednesday to discuss the Middle East conflict. Complicating the upcoming rally is the fact that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last weekend compared Israel's war against Hamas to Adolf Hitler's extermination of Jews during the Holocaust. .
With Brazil holding the rotating G20 presidency, Lula sets the tone for the so-called Global South. Several Latin American countries have withdrawn their ambassadors from Israel amid its war with Hamas, and South Africa has filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide.
While the Group of Seven (G7) represents the United States and its major allies, the G20 brings together all countries, including China, and is therefore the focus of global conflicts. Israel is not a member of the G20.
Ahead of next week's foreign and finance ministers' meeting, officials representing countries in the Global South, including South Africa and Brazil, said they would seek a position that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. According to officials, the G20 joint statement reflects the opinions of the people.
The language was rejected by the United States and several other G20 countries, including Germany, the people said.
Officials say Brazil is seeking a strategy to avoid letting the Israel-Hamas war or the Russia-Ukraine war overshadow the rest of the agenda, with a single meeting at the end of Brazil's presidential term in November rather than after each cabinet meeting. He has also issued a statement.
Officials say some members representing the Global South are calling for the G20 to stop mentioning geopolitical conflicts, including Russia's war with Ukraine, making agreement on such issues impossible. It is said that it is considered. As a result, future G20 statements may be shorter and less political.
It also means the G20 regime will refocus on its original objectives of promoting economic cooperation and strengthening fiscal resilience to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis, officials said.
US vetoes UN Security Council resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza
The United States has blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza as it moves forward with efforts to stop an Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have fled.
Thirteen of the Security Council's 15 members voted in favor of the text proposed by Algeria, the only Arab state currently on the council. The United States, which has veto power, blocked the resolution, and the United Kingdom abstained. The draft called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, warned of forced displacement of Palestinians, and called for the release of all hostages.
“The Security Council cannot afford to be passive in the face of the call for a ceasefire in Gaza,” Amal Bendjama, the U.N. special envoy for Algeria, said ahead of Tuesday's vote. “Silence and contempt are not viable options. Now is the time for action, now is the time for truth.”
The United States blocked the resolution, saying it would obstruct efforts by President Joe Biden and his allies in Qatar and Egypt to broker a deal that would free hostages from Hamas, which the United States and European Union list as a terrorist organization. . , and step up aid delivery to Gaza. Qatar announced over the weekend that these negotiations had been successful. stagnated.
“Hard diplomacy can take longer than we would like,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said before the U.N. vote. “Any action this council is taking now must help, not hinder, these delicate and ongoing negotiations. We believe that the resolution will actually have a negative impact on those negotiations.”
The U.S. alternative would call for a temporary cease-fire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas, while also calling for an Israeli attack on Rafah unless arrangements are made to move local civilians to relative safety. I'm warning you. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would be done without explaining how.
The decision to call for a ceasefire “as soon as practicable” marks a shift in policy for Washington, which has publicly voted against several documents calling for a ceasefire since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
The war with Hamas began when the militant group invaded southern Israel, carrying out attacks that killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped around 250. More than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting began, according to health officials in Hamas-held territory.
More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled to the Rafah area in recent months as Israel has focused its military operations further north.Israel is now warning that it will launch a ground attack It is expected to take place in the region as early as March, unless hostages still held by Hamas are released.
United States, European Union, Others Israel's main ally expressed strong criticism of the possible attack on Rafah. The U.S. document warns that ground attacks in the region will lead to “further harm to civilians and further displacement, including potentially to neighboring countries,” according to a draft review reviewed by Bloomberg News. are doing.
The document also condemns calls by Israeli ministers to: Palestinian resettlementwhich rejects “all attempts to change the demographics or territory in Gaza” and supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel considers Eichmann-style public trial for October 7th attackers
In 1961, Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann sat in a bulletproof booth in a makeshift courtroom in Jerusalem for four months as cameras blared as he was tried by the Israeli state for crimes against humanity. Two years later, after an unsuccessful appeal, he was hanged, making it the last execution in the country's history.
The trial was widely publicized and held one man responsible for his crimes, but it had a much larger purpose. The goal was to document, in irrefutable detail, the Nazis' massacre of six million Jews for a skeptical world.
Since October 7, Israelis have been discussing whether hundreds of captured fighters, particularly their leaders, should be tried in a similar manner.
The prospect of a series of trials like this is daunting from many points of view, including whether they should be conducted domestically or internationally. Is there enough evidence left? Could an individual be involved in a particular crime? If it was a minor league player who was caught, would the spectacle be worth it?
There are also more complex issues. The world's view of the small, struggling nation of Israel and the threat of Nazism in 1961 was a far cry from today's view of the wealthy, nuclear-powered Jewish state attacking Gaza and the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas. It's different.
There are many people abroad who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, so whatever lessons Israel wants to impart may not go as planned.
People charged with terrorism in Israel are usually tried in military courts in the West Bank or through regular criminal procedures. The brutality of the October attack has prompted calls for a special court and the reinstatement of the death penalty. It also highlighted the divide between those interested in defending human rights and the rule of law and those who believe the fight against terrorism should be prioritized.
Talia Einhorn, a longtime international law scholar who supports special military tribunals, argued in a paper submitted to Congress that extraordinary times call for extraordinary responses.
“The terrorists who invaded the sovereign nation of Israel committed atrocities of a type and scale not experienced by the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” she wrote.
She suggested appointing lawyers from within the military, as few would agree to work for defendants and high-level security clearance would be required.
Another paper from the Begin Institute for Law and Zionism calling for military proceedings discusses the Nuremberg Military Tribunal set up by the Allies to try Nazi leaders and the Guantanamo Bay Trials held after the September 11 attacks in the United States. is cited as a model candidate.
Ultimately, the government and the attorney general will decide how captured Hamas fighters will be tried, with the Ministry of Justice convening a committee to consider the options. A ministry spokesperson declined to comment on the process.
Simcha Rosman is the chairman of the parliamentary subcommittee examining the issue. In an interview at his office in Jerusalem, he said there was a tendency to skip trials and declare militants to be illegal or unprivileged combatants. Under the laws of war, such combatants do not deserve due process and can be held in prison for long periods, he said.
“The trial could take years and divert our attention from where it should be, how to deal with terrorists before they do something like this again,” said Rothman, from the far-right Religious Zionist Party. There is,” he said. He introduced a bill that would prohibit the public defender's office from participating in such trials.
“Why do we have to pay for their defense?” he further asked, adding, “I don't want to impose this on any public defender.”
Others argue that Israel's criminal law is sufficient and that defendants can and should have access to good lawyers.
Israel's war against Hamas has entered its fifth month, leaving more than 29,000 Palestinians dead in Gaza. Israel said more than a third of them were combatants.
Israeli security forces have not disclosed much about the detainees in order to keep Hamas in the dark. For example, it is unclear how many fighters are being held and whether they include key commanders. What is clear is that the group's leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, and its military leader Mohamed Deif, are still at large.
From Israel's perspective, the International Criminal Court may be the best forum to try such top figures, as it will be working with Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and others accused of masterminding the atrocities. .
But Rothman said much depends on how the military operation ends, and no decisions can be made until then.
“We know the importance of the Eichmann trial,” he said. “If we captured Shinwar, there would need to be some kind of trial. But if we only capture the men who were standing guard, that's not the same.” DM
