The United States has vetoed dozens of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions critical of Israel, including at least 53 since 1972, according to UN data
With the latest escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians now in its tenth day, the US has stuck to that playbook. On Monday, Washington blocked a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas – the US’s third such veto reportedly within a week.
The US’s unequivocal support of Israel has seen it thwart resolutions condemning violence against protesters, illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank built since 1967 and even calls for an investigation into the 1990 killing of seven Palestinian workers by a former Israeli soldier.
Critics say Washington’s blanket support of Israel encourages a disproportionate use of force against Palestinians, including Israel’s current bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 225 Palestinians, including 63 children.
Palestinians in Gaza began protesting at the Israeli border fence in March 2018, calling for the “right of return” to ancestral homes from which their families were expelled in 1948 during what Palestinians call the “Nakbah”, or the creation of the state of Israel. The UN estimates 750,000 Palestinians were expelled that year.
Palestinians faced sniper fire from Israeli forces during the year-long protests, which killed at least 266 people and injured roughly 30,000 more, according to Gaza’s health ministry.On June 1, 2018, the UNSC drafted a resolution (PDF) expressing “grave concern at the escalation of violence and tensions” since the protests began and “deep alarm at the loss of civilian lives and the high number of casualties among Palestinian civilians, particularly in the Gaza Strip, including casualties among children, caused by the Israeli forces”.
The US vetoed the resolution (PDF), with then-US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley saying it presented “a grossly one-sided view of what has taken place in Gaza in recent weeks”.
Haley blamed Hamas for the violence.
US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
East Jerusalem is meant to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, as outlined in international agreements. But the area has been occupied by Israel since 1967, when Israeli forces defeated forces from Jordan – which controlled East Jerusalem and the West Bank at the time – Egypt, Syria and allied Palestinians, to occupy all of historic Palestine.
The status of occupied East Jerusalem was meant to be determined through peace negotiations. International law, including UNSC resolutions, state that East Jerusalem is not to be considered Israeli territory.
