Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:

ZOA strongly urges the Biden administration to veto the new dangerous, proposed anti-Israel resolution currently being considered at the UN Security Council (UNSC). Regardless of whether the resolution calls for an “urgent cessation of hostilities” or a “suspension of hostilities,” the effect is the same: the proposed resolution aims to prevent Israel from defending her citizens from Hamas terrorists who vow to repeat October 7 again and again until Israel is annihilated. “Ceasefire,” “cessation,” “suspension” and “extended pause” all simply enable Hamas to regroup, rearm and reattack innocent Israelis.

The proposed UNSC resolution does not even link a cessation or suspension of hostilities to the hostages’ release.

The proposed UNSC resolution is also designed to help Hamas by granting a UN-designated group (instead of Israel) sole, exclusive control over monitoring incoming Gazan humanitarian aid for the next year. That means that UNRWA – the same organization that employs thousands of Hamas operatives and sympathizers, hides rockets in its facilities and teaches Gazan children to murder Jews – or some similar UN agency or designee – would be given the sole responsibility to see that no weapons or dual use items enter Gaza! This would be a tragic mistake.

The proposed UNSC resolution further helps Hamas by declaring that UN facilities (meaning, the UNRWA facilities that Hamas operates out of and launches rockets from) “are protected under humanitarian law.” In fact, under humanitarian law, any facility used by terrorists becomes a legitimate target.

And the proposed UNSC resolution further rewards the terrorists by calling for a Palestinian state governed by the Palestinian Authority terror regime on Israel’s lawful land (a so-called “2-state solution”). (See “Palestinian Arabs Overwhelmingly Support Hamas & Their Genocidal Aspirations,” ZOA’s Mort Klein Op-Ed in The Federalist, Oct. 25, 2023.)

The proposed UNSC resolution also fails to condemn Egypt for reinforcing its concrete barriers to prevent Gazan civilians from leaving the war zone; and fails to take to task the rest of Arab world for refusing to resettle the Gazans who originated from Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. Instead, the UNSC resolution undermines attempts to move Gazan civilians to safety, saying that it “rejects forced displacement of the civilian population.”

And once again, the resolution fails to condemn Hamas and the thousands of Gazan civilians who gleefully joined in Hamas’ atrocities on October 7th. During the eleven weeks since Hamas, joined by thousands of Gazan civilians, murdered, tortured, raped, beheaded, gouged and abducted Israeli babies, children, women, fathers and grandparents, the United Nations has still not condemned Hamas or its Gazan civilian collaborators; still done nothing that would help the Israeli hostages; and still done nothing to stop the UN’s own role, via UNRWA, in assisting Hamas.

Vetoing the proposed UNSC resolution would enable the Biden administration to at least somewhat redeem itself for refusing to veto anti-Israel UNSC 2712 on November 15, 2023. UNSC 2712 called for days-long “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip” and “unhindered” provision to Gaza of dual use fuel and other items that Hamas will use to launch more rockets at Israel. As ZOA previously pointed out, UNSC 2712’s “extended pauses” language was virtually the same as calling for ceasefires that benefit Hamas’ ability to attack Israel. (See “Biden Admin. Shows Betrayal & Hostility to Israel this Week at the UN and Elsewhere,” ZOA, Nov. 20, 2023.)