What Now? U.S. Vetoes Another Ceasefire Resolution as Israel Attacks Hospitals

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FRANCIS BOYLE, fboyle@illinois.edu
Boyle is professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. His books include The Bosnian People Charge Genocide. The U.S. government again was the sole veto, killing a third ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council on Tuesday. The International Court of Justice is continuing hearings on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, see videos. This is a separate case from South Africa invoking the Genocide Convention before the Court, which resulted in an Order from the Court which it reiterated on Friday with a reporting mechanism on that case due before the end of the month.

The Arab Group at the UN on Tuesday indicated that they may bring the U.S. government before the General Assembly to defend its veto. Boyle highlights that the General Assembly could do the following under Uniting for Peace: “Suspend Israel from participation in its activities as the General Assembly did to the former criminal apartheid regime in South Africa and to the genocidal Yugoslavia;

“Set up an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel in order to prosecute its highest level civilian and military officials for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide;

“Recommend economic sanctions against Israel to UN Member States;

“Recommend UN Member States sever diplomatic relations with Israel;

“Admit Palestine as a full fledged UN Member State.”

KATHY KELLY, kathy.vcnv@gmail.com, @voiceinwild
Kelly is the board president of World BEYOND War and a co-coordinator of the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal. The Progressive just published her piece “Israel Is Assaulting Hospitals in Gaza With Full U.S. Support.”

Kelly writes: “Tragically, hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank have been attacked, invaded, bombed and destroyed. News of additional Israeli attacks is being reported on a daily basis. Last week, ‘Democracy Now!‘ interviewed Dr. Yasser Khan, a Canadian ophthalmologist and eye surgeon who recently returned from a humanitarian surgical mission at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in Gaza. Dr. Khan spoke of bombings taking place every few hours resulting in a constant influx of mass casualties. The majority of patients he treated were children from age 2 to 17. He saw horrific eye injuries, shattered faces, shrapnel wounds, abdominal injuries, limbs severed above the bone, and traumas caused by drone launched laser guided missiles. Amid the overcrowding and chaos, health care workers tended to patients while lacking basic equipment, including anesthesia. Patients lay on the ground in unsterile conditions, vulnerable to infection and disease. Most of them also suffered from severe hunger. …

“In 2009, on a smaller, yet still horrific scale, I witnessed an Israeli onslaught in Gaza called ‘Operation Cast Lead.’ In the emergency room of the Al Shifa hospital, Dr. Saeed Abuhassan, an orthopedic surgeon, described experiences similar to Khan’s. This surgeon grew up in Chicago, very close to the neighborhood where I lived. I asked him what he would want me to tell our neighbors back home. He listed a litany of horrors and then he stopped. ‘No,’ he said. ‘First, you must tell them that U.S. taxpayer money paid for all of these weapons.’

“Taxpayer money feeds the bloated, swollen Pentagon budget. U.S. Senators, last week, cowed by AIPAC, decided to send Israel an additional $14.1 billion to boost military spending. Only three Senators voted against the bill.”

On Tuesday the group If Not Now commented: “This morning Biden vetoed a ceasefire in Gaza. Tonight he goes to a fundraiser hosted by AIPAC billionaire Haim Saban, with donors giving up to $250,000 each.”