Some notes on the vote about an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza War
By Michael Pröbsting, Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 13 December 2023, www.thecommunists.net
For a second time, the United Nation’s General Assembly called with an overwhelming majority for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza. This time 153 countries voted in favour, 23 abstained, and 10 against. (See the list of countries below.) Already in late October, 120 countries had voted in favour with 45 abstentions and 14 against. In other words, more than 82% of the world demand an immediate stop of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people and only 5.5% side with the Zionist state.
The small minority of states which oppose the ceasefire represent a bunch of pro-Israel extremists. They include, in addition to Israel and the US – the “Killer-Duo” responsible for the murder of more than 18,000 Palestinians – only a few die-hard pro-Zionist states (like Austria or Czech Republic) and several tiny countries which are totally dependent on Washington’s financial support.
This vote demonstrates again how isolated Israel and its policy of systematic war crimes has become. Moreover, it is also a public humiliation of the U.S. and reflects its decline as a hegemonic imperialist power.
One should also add that even within the U.S., about 2/3 of the population support a ceasefire. In other words, it is the White House and America’s ruling elite which are imposing their policy of “unlimited solidarity” with Israel – with billions of US-Dollars of weapons and financial aid – against the will of the large majority of the world and even of their own population.
Still, Israel and its American partners in crime are continuing to slaughter the Palestinian people since the UN is an impotent body. While the UN vote is an important symbolic victory for the supporters of the Palestinian cause, it is clear that Israel can not be stopped with such resolutions which have no consequences.
It is the heroic struggle of the Palestinian resistance, the solidarity actions of the Houthis in Yemen, the global pro-Palestine solidarity movement which has resulted in unprecedented mass demonstrations and boycott actions which can force the Zionist state to stop its genocide.
Hence, the pro-Palestine solidarity movement must redouble its efforts to support the brothers and sisters in Gaza. In the Arab and Muslim world, it must force the regimes to rupture all relations with Israel. It must force Egypt to open the Rafah border to send aid to the Palestinians. All countries which claim to support the Palestinian cause must send weapons to the resistance. Trade unions and popular organisations must organise a total boycott of Israel so that no weapons, no goods can be exported to the Zionist Terror and Apartheid state.
Victory to the Palestinian resistance! Defeat Israel!
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We refer readers to a special page on our website where the RCIT documents on the 2023 Gaza War are compiled: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/compilation-of-articles-on-the-gaza-uprising-2023/.
