A United States-sponsored resolution championed by Ambassador Nikki Haley seeking to condemn Hamas movement has been rejected on Thursday, by the United Nations general assembly.
Hamas is the Palestinian group, the Islamist militant group that ruled the besieged Gaza Strip. The US resolution sough to condemn Hamas movement for firing rockets at Israel country. The resolution needed a two-third majority to win and pass on.
However, the proposal failed to win enough votes. 87 votes were in favour and 57 voted against, whereas 33 nations abstained. India was one of the countries to abstain the voting.
UN envoy Nikki Haley reiterated her accusation over the UN of obtaining an anti-Israel bias group and in its latest conflict with Hamas, she has defended Israel.
On Monday, Haley urged states member to vote in favour of the US-drafted text with a warning: “The United States takes the outcome of this vote very seriously.”
Before the vote process, Haley told the body: “Before the General Assembly can credibly advocate compromise and reconciliation between the Palestinians and Israel, it must on record, unambiguously and unconditionally, condemn Hamas terrorism.”
According to news reports, the session went very tense over whether it will be a simple majority or a two-third majority. Al Jazeera’s James Bays reported, “When it was finally voted on, she got a majority but she didn’t get the two-thirds – a blow to the US ambassador.”
In a statement, Hamas thanked UN states member “that stood by our people’s resistance and the justice of their cause” and also launched a scathing attack on Haley who “is known for her extremism and her positions that support the Zionist terrorism in Palestine”.
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahri termed the vote as a “slap” to the US nation and President Donald Trump which took a pro-Israeli stance in order to address the Middle East peace process.
In a tweet, Zahri wrote: “The failure of the American venture at the United Nations represents a slap to the US administration and confirmation of the legitimacy of the resistance.”
President of the Palestinian authority said, “The Palestinian presidency will not allow for the condemnation of the national Palestinian struggle.”
Co-founder of electronic intifada- an online news publication, said, “This resolution was really just an attempt to weaponize the UN against the Palestinian people, against their legitimate rights.”
He further said, “The resolution itself was just transparently Israeli talking points – it didn’t mention the military occupation, the siege of Gaza, Israel’s daily attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. I think the world saw through it and they rightly rejected it.”