Former White House interns call on Biden to impose immediate ceasefire in Gaza

NEW YORK: Dozens of American rabbis disrupted a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday to demand that Washington stop preventing the UN Security Council from taking urgent action on an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
During their demonstration – led by the organization Rabbis 4 Ceasefire and co-organized by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow – the 36 rabbis, from several states, sang, prayed, recited excerpts of ONU. Declaration of Human Rights and organized a memorial service. They held banners reading “Biden: the world says ceasefire” and called on the US president to “stop vetoing peace”.
After being escorted from the premises by security personnel, they held a press conference in front of the UN. Rabbi Alissa Wise, founder of Rabbis 4 Ceasefire, said they watched in horror as the U.S. government “single-handedly blocked efforts to stop Israel’s bombing and starvation of Gaza.”
She added: “We know that there is no military solution to this violence. We pray here because the UN is the place where meaningful diplomatic action can take place to end the violence, and because prayer is how we, as rabbis, know how to express our fears, our dreams, our hopes and our despair.
Rabbi Abby Stein, a member of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, said the U.N. was created in the aftermath of World War II and the Nazi Holocaust that targeted the Jewish people, with the intention to ensure that such an atrocity never happens again.
“I am here as a Jew, as an ordained rabbi, as the granddaughter of three Holocaust survivors, to urge the UN to continue this noble mission,” she said. “Never again means never again for anyone. »
Rabbi Elliot Kukla said: “The United States is defending the indefensible in a General Assembly, using its veto to single-handedly prevent the UN from taking meaningful action toward a ceasefire. fire.
“I am here as rabbi because Jewish tradition demands that we do everything in our power to save lives, and that means providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians who are displaced, starving and have no safe place to shelter while bombs rain.
“Our government refuses to respond to this extremely popular demand; we came here directly to represent ourselves and our Jewish values.
Tuesday’s meeting came after the United States vetoed a Russian proposal to amend a Security Council resolution to include a call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
On December 22, the council adopted a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates, calling for increased aid to the Gaza Strip, including urgent measures including safe, unimpeded and expanded humanitarian access to the territory. The United States abstained in the vote among the 15 council members but did not use its veto power and so the resolution passed.
Russia had proposed an amendment to the resolution calling for “an urgent and lasting cessation of hostilities”. The United States vetoed this proposed change.
A General Assembly resolution states that whenever a Security Council member uses their veto power, it triggers a meeting and debate within the assembly to review and discuss that decision.
Robert Wood, deputy permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, said that although the United States abstained in the vote, it nevertheless worked “in good faith” to help develop a strong resolution.
“This work supports the direct diplomacy the United States is engaged in to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza and help get hostages out of Gaza,” he added.
Referring to the Russian amendment, Wood accused Moscow of putting forward ideas “disconnected from the situation on the ground.”
He said it was “deeply disturbing that so many member states appear to have stopped talking about the fate of the more than 100 hostages held by Hamas and other groups.” The United States remains committed to repatriating all hostages. Each of them.
He added: “It is also striking that although we hear many countries calling for an end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, we hear very few demands from the initiator of this conflict – Hamas. – to stop hiding behind civilians. lays down his arms and surrenders.
“It would have been over if the Hamas leaders had done this. It would be nice if a strong international voice put pressure on Hamas leaders to do what is necessary to end the conflict they started on October 7.”
Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said he stood before the General Assembly “representing a people massacred, with families entirely killed, men and women slaughtered in the streets, thousands of people kidnapped, tortured and humiliated”. , children killed, amputated, orphaned – marked for life.
It is incomprehensible, he added, that the Security Council is still prevented from calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, even though 153 States members of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General of the UN have asked for exactly that.
Israel’s “war of atrocities” is unprecedented in modern history, Mansour said. “This is not about Israeli security, but the destruction of Palestine,” he continued. “The interests and goals of this extremist Israeli government are clear and incompatible with the interests and goals of any country that supports international law and peace”
He asked: “How can you reconcile your opposition to atrocities and your veto of a call to end the war that leads to their commission?
Calling for an end to “this schizophrenia,” he added: “Don’t call for peace and don’t spread fire. If you want peace, start with a ceasefire. NOW.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, has denounced calls for a ceasefire while Israeli hostages are still being held captive.
“How morally bankrupt is this body?” he asked. He said that “despite the moral rot of the UN,” Israel’s citizens are resilient, equipped with faith, hope and an unwavering determination to defend themselves.
He accused the UN of ignoring Israeli victims of the conflict, caring only about Gaza residents and becoming “complicit with terrorists”, and said the organization had lost the justification for its existence.
The UN “is obsessed only with the well-being of the people of Gaza,” those who brought Hamas to power and supported the group’s atrocities, Erdan said, adding: “You are ignoring all the Israeli victims.”
Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, said that when Washington used its veto in the Security Council on December 22, it was guilty of playing an “unscrupulous game” in its attempt to protect Israel from its actions in Gaza.
She said that through blackmail and coercion, the United States had given Israel permission to continue killing Palestinians and its blessing for the “ongoing extermination of Gazans,” which was why Moscow had proposed his amendment.