On Monday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate “ceasefire”, the “immediate and unconditional release of hostages”, as well as the expansion of aid flow into the Gaza Strip. The US abstained from the vote, and later said that the resolution is “non-binding”. However, according to the UN Charter, all Security Council resolutions are legally binding under international law.
Following the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his plans to send a delegation to Washington, because the US did not veto the ceasefire proposal. According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the US’ failure to block the proposal was a “clear retreat” from its previous position. However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remained in Washington for talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon.
Misty Winston, a political activist, organizer and co-host of the Misty Winston Show and Free Assange Vigils, sat down with Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Wednesday and said it was “absurd” that the US thinks they can get away with calling the resolution “non-binding”.
Sputnik’s Fault Lines played a clip in which John Kirby, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, said the White House was “perplexed” by Israel’s response. He maintained that the resolution is “non-binding” adding that there is “no impact at all on Israel” nor their ability to “go after Hamas”. Kirby then said that the resolution is consistent with “everything” the US has been saying and does not represent a change in US policy.
The comments from Kirby were strange as the US has vetoed three previous resolutions with similar language.
“The idea that not just John Kirby, but also Matthew Miller went on national television and said, 'this is a non-binding resolution,'---there's no such thing, that doesn't exist,” said Winston. “That fascinates me, that the idea that they're out here, making those kinds of statements when it's obviously not true and will be fact checked. I mean, it's absurd to me that that's something they think they can get away with.”
“Caitlin Johnstone wrote a great piece not too long ago where she explored the possibility that they [the US] are going to try to lay all of this genocidal activity on Netanyahu's feet and kind of absolve themselves of it. So they're trying to distance themselves from Netanyahu as they kind of move through this,” she continued.
“That means that nothing has to change. Policy doesn't have to change. Israel gets to continue doing whatever they want to do, and Netanyahu gets to be the fall guy. So I think that's something people really need to consider here,” she added.
Sputnik’s Jamarl Thomas noted that the US is disregarding a resolution created by an organizational body they helped to build.
“And [the US is] really openly mocking it, Jamarl. It's not even just that they're ignoring it, they're pretending it doesn't exist. They're openly mocking it," said Winston. “And the press conference with Matthew Miller, they were saying ‘it's our interpretation of this resolution, it's non-binding’. So what's the point of the UN?”
“I mean, it's super interesting to watch the approach that they're taking with this. I'm not really sure what the game plan is with this whole ‘non-binding’ thing,” she continued. “It makes no sense and it makes them look foolish, frankly, especially as they prance around doing the whole rules-based order and stuff that they pretend to care about. Very clearly, they do not.”
On Monday, a UN-appointed expert released a report in which she found that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. The report, “The Anatomy of a Genocide”, writes that after “five months of military operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza”. It notes that over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children.