Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
Shame on the Biden administration for abstaining (failing to veto) and thus allowing the United Nations Security Council to pass UNSC Resolution 2720 (2023) early this afternoon. The resolution will help Hamas by: (i) easing inspections and increasing supplies entering Gaza that Hamas immediately seizes and uses to continue its ongoing rocket attacks on Israel from humanitarian zones and Hamas’ other war crimes; and by (ii) calling for steps towards conditions for a ceasefire, which will enable Hamas to continue its genocidal terror wars and atrocities against the Jewish people. The U.S. should have vetoed this. (See, e.g., Israeli kindergarten teacher in central Israel hurriedly carrying toddlers to bomb shelter during Hamas rocket attack TODAY!)
According to the UNSC official news site report,* Resolution 2720 “demands immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip” and “calls for urgent measures to be taken to create the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities.” The UNSC is well aware that Hamas immediately seizes the supplies intended for civilians.
We are appalled by this disgraceful resolution benefiting a Jew-hating genocidal terrorist regime, committed to Israel’s destruction and the murder of Jews.
What does the resolution’s ambiguous language “urgent measures to create the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities” even mean? If the UNSC was serious about working towards peace, it should have specified conditions before there can be a cessation of hostilities: Namely, Hamas and PIJ must be defeated or surrender and must release all hostages, and UNRWA must be closed to create the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities.
The resolution also still does not condemn Hamas’ and its civilian Gazan collaborators’ atrocities on October 7. Both the UNSC and UN General Assembly have failed to condemn Hamas’ and Gazan civilians’ October 7 atrocities for the past eleven weeks! Moreover, a call in the resolution for releasing the hostages (which Hamas will not heed) was not made a condition for anything and has no teeth.
For a fuller discussion of problems with the draft of UNSC Res. 2720 (2023), see ZOA’s press release yesterday entitled “ZOA Urges U.S. to Veto Proposed UNSC Resolution That Protects Hamas by Stopping Israeli Campaign to Destroy Hamas, Stopping Israeli Inspections of Aid Trucks, and More,” Dec. 21, 2023.
*Note: The UNSC had not yet published the full final text of Res. 2720 (2023) when this press release was issued. The UNSC official news report published prior to this press release contained quotes from and information about the resolution.
*Update: The later-published text of UNSC Res. 2720 (Dec. 22, 2023) is here.