The Shift: ‘What the hell is the point of the UN or the UN Security Council?’

On Monday the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all Israeli hostages.

The vote was notable because the United States has vetoed every previous ceasefire resolution. However, this time around, the U.S. abstained from the vote.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was quick to point out that the move “does not represent a shift” in policy.

Kirby’s assertion isn’t entirely true—the U.S. abstention obviously marks a slight shift in how the U.S. approaches this issue publicly. Before the vote, Netanyahu announced that he would cancel a planned delegation to The White House (to talk about Rafah) if the Biden administration didn’t veto the effort and he did.

Now the mainstream media is flooded with stories about a “new rupture” between the two governments. Biden and Netanyahu are on a “collision course”, as a “rift widens.”

It’s undoubtedly true that Biden and Netanyahu are frustrated with each other, but this adds up to absolutely nothing in terms of actual policy.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller made this very clear right away. During Monday’s briefing, he essentially said the resolution didn’t matter but also prattled on about the importance of the Security Council. This contradiction reached comical heights in an exchange with the AP’s Matt Lee:

Lee:  Why did you abstain? Why didn’t you veto? 

Miller:  We didn’t veto because we thought the language in it was consistent with something that – the language as it relates to the ceasefire and release of hostages was consistent with the longstanding United States position. 

Lee:  So you don’t believe anything is going to happen as a result of the passage of this resolution. 

Miller:  So I think that separate and apart from this resolution, we have active, ongoing negotiations to try to achieve what this resolution calls for, which is the – an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages.  I don’t – I can’t say that this – this resolution is going to have any impact on those negotiations…But those negotiations are ongoing.  They’ve been ongoing over the weekend and they’ve made progress. 

Lee:  All right.  So I don’t expect you to answer this now, but maybe just stick this in  your pocket.  If that’s the case, what the hell is the point of the UN or the UN Security Council? 

Miller:  So we think it plays an important role on a range of – a range of security — 

Lee:  Oh, it does, even though its action does absolutely nothing?  I mean, and that you’re going to get what you would like to see not out of the UN, but out of discussions in Doha?  

Miller:  So we believe it’s important that the UN speak – the UN Security Council speak on matters of international security.  It’s why we’ve been engaged in this process.  It’s why we thought we were going to have a successful vote on Friday that Russia and China unfortunately and quite cynically vetoed, but I do believe that ultimately, if we were able to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages, it’s going to come not through a UN process but through the process with which we’ve been engaged – yes – in Doha. 

Miller referred to the ceasefire resolution as “non-binding” four times during the briefing. UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield also referred to the resolution this way earlier in the day.

This is lie.

There is no such thing as a non-binding Security Council resolution. They are binding on all Member States, which means Israel should be hit with sanctions.

Obviously, that’s not going to happen. In the same briefing, we learned that the Biden administration found Israel to be compliant with international law. You might recall that Israel had until last Sunday to provide The White House with “written assurances” that everything was legal. So great news: the brutal assault on Gaza that’s killed more than 30,000 people and is about to start a famine? It’s all on the up and up.

There was one more big story from Monday. UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese presented a report showing that the threshold for genocide has been in Gaza.

A public feud between Biden and Netanyahu won’t alter such revelations.

New Gallup Poll

We have an important new poll from Gallup showing that a majority of Americans now oppose Israel’s attack on Gaza.

What’s staggering about this poll, is the shift we’ve seen in recent months. Gallup asked Americans these same questions shortly after the October 7th Hamas attack, in November.

Approval for the assault was at 50% back then, now it’s down to 36%. 55% of Americans say they oppose the campaign.

A mere 18% of Democratic voters approve of Israel’s effort. That number is 29% among independents. Republicans are the only holdouts, with 64% of them still supporting the bombings.

Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey M. Jones breaks down the findings in a post on the organization’s website.

“Democrats’ widespread opposition to Israel’s actions underscores the difficulty of the issue for President Joe Biden among his most loyal supporters,” Jones writes. “Some Democratic critics believe Biden has been too closely aligned with Israel by not taking stronger actions to promote a cease-fire and to assist Palestinian civilians caught in the war zone.”

“Biden’s approval rating for his handling of the situation in the Middle East, at 27%, is his lowest among five issues tested in the survey,” he continues. “This is because far fewer Democrats (47%) approve of how he is handling the situation between the Israelis and Palestinians than approve of his handling of the economy, the environment, energy policy and foreign affairs, broadly. On those issues, no less than 66% of Democrats approve of Biden.”

Last week a poll from Pew revealed that nearly half of America doesn’t have any idea how many Palestinians have been killed by Israel so far.

Asked if the death toll was higher among Palestinians or Israelis, 48% of respondents got the question wrong. 34% said they didn’t know, 7% said there were more Israeli casualties, and 7% thought the number was about the same.

Israel’s war on Gaza is becoming vastly unpopular, but imagine what Gallup’s numbers might look like if more people became aware of the human costs.

So long, Joe Lieberman

Joseph Lieberman, the longtime Connecticut Senator and former vice presidential candidate, is dead at the age of 82.

His enduring political legacy is probably his disastrous impact on the U.S. healthcare system, as he led the charge to make sure the Affordable Care Act didn’t include a public option or a reduction in the Medicare eligibility age.

However, his consistent war-mongering also deserves a spot in the obituary. He broke with Democrats to support the Gulf War. He backed military interventions in Panama, Kosovo, Grenada, Afghanistan, and pretty much any other spot the United States decided to bomb or invade.

However, his most passionate cheerleading was reserved for the Iraq War.

Many prominent Democrats of the time supported the war at the time, but most of them (like the current President) would eventually admit they were wrong.

Not Lieberman. He repeated the Bush administration’s lies till the bitter end. He made his support for the disaster the centerpiece of his tepid 2004 presidential campaign, even penning an op-ed in the The Wall Street Journal endorsing the effort.

Here’s Lieberman on MSNBC in 2011, lying about the contents of the Duelfer Report while making a sexist comment about Arianna Huffington:

LIEBERMAN: …the evidence is very clear that (Saddam) was developing weapons of mass destruction…Charles Duelfer conducted the most comprehensive report on behalf of our government…he found, and proved I think, that Saddam…was developing chemical and biological weapons.

HUFFINGTON: Well, based on this completely unfounded assumption, I sincerely hope for the sake of the country that you do not become Secretary of Defense.

LIEBERMAN: Now Arianna, these are not unfounded. Go read the Duelfer Report.

HUFFINGTON: There is nothing in the report that proves anything that you have said.

LIEBERMAN: I don’t think you’ve read it, sweetheart.

That report concluded that, “Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991. There are no credible indications that Baghdad resumed production of chemical munitions thereafter…”

I think she had read it.

Lieberman was one of Israel’s staunchest Senate allies, supporting the country through all its human rights violations. Less than a year after 9/11, he sponsored a resolution declaring that the U.S. “stands in solidarity with Israel, a frontline state in the war against terrorism.”

“Throughout his career, Senator Lieberman was indefatigable in advancing pro-Israel policy and legislation,” said AIPAC in a statement after his passing. “..The pro-Israel movement will always be indebted to him, and he leaves a legacy that we will forever cherish.”

According to Open Secrets, Lieberman took about $2 million from pro-Israel lobbying groups during his time in the Senate.

Lieberman’s support for the apartheid state didn’t subside when he left Congress. He criticized Obama from the right on the issue, dutifully smeared Rashida Tlaib, and defended Trump’s pick of David Friedman for Ambassador to Israel. Days before his death he attacked Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for criticizing Netanyahu in a speech.

While appearing on Mehdi Hasan’s show a few years ago, he was given another chance to atone for Iraq.

“Iraq was a disaster,” said Hasan. “Are you willing to say tonight it was a disaster, you were wrong, you regret it, you apologize?”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” replied Lieberman. “I’m not.”

Odds & Ends

🕍 ‘Not in my Name’: how a new generation is divesting from Israeli apartheid

🇺🇳 U.N. Security Council passes ceasefire resolution, U.S. abstains

🇮🇱 Independent: US Defense secretary says Gaza death toll ‘far too high’ in public rebuke of Israel

🏥 We study America’s biggest public health crisis. This is why we speak out against the Gaza genocide

🗳️ Politico: Bowman reverses after calling reports of Oct. 7 sexual assaults in Israel ‘propaganda’

🇺🇸 Middle East Eye: State Department accuses UN special rapporteur of antisemitism

Gaza Voices spokesperson Ashish Prashar:

“In an attempt to discredit the UN report Matt Miller accused the UN special rapporteur of antisemitism. This is truly despicable – a Trumpian smear of a principled human rights expert. Note the lack of substantive rebuttals of Francesca Albanese’s careful analysis, and the resort to ad hominem attacks. Not the sign of a confident administration. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller should be forced to resign for trying to endanger the life of a UN Official with falsehoods.”

🇮🇱 Foreign Policy: The United States Has Less Leverage Over Israel Than You Think

🇺🇸 New York Times: How Biden Could Try to Coerce Israel to Change Its War Strategy

🇺🇸 Ceasefire resolutions are building organizing power throughout the U.S.

👓 Malcolm X’s final written words were about Zionism. Here is what he said.

🏫 Jewish Insider: Traditionally quiet campuses now face widespread anti-Israel activity

🎥 Counterpunch: Close-up of Death Culture: 1,000 in Entertainment Biz Proclaim Support for Gaza Slaughter

😮 Rep. Ritchie Torres: “If anything ever happens to me, if I’m ever assassinated, people should assume that it was likely anti-Zionist activists.”

✊ The Forward: ‘Until a ceasefire’: Nonstop protest rocks the Israeli Embassy — and the neighborhood beyond

🇺🇸 Electronic Intifada: What is behind the US Army’s Gaza pier project?

🇺🇸 Truthout: US Shift in Rhetoric Isolates Israel, But Can It Prevent the Invasion of Rafah?

🇮🇱 Counterpunch: Complicit in Genocide: Where Israel Gets Its Weapons From

🤔 NBC News: Biden reacts to pro-Palestinian protesters: ‘They have a point’

🇺🇳 In These Times: Defunding UNRWA Was Never About Hamas

🐘 Responsible Statecraft: Is it a Mystery? Where  Trump stands on Israel-Gaza war

🏫 Palestine Legal: Vanderbilt’s Discriminatory Crackdown on Palestine Activism

🇺🇸 Center for American Progress President Patrick Gaspard says the administration’s claim that Israel is following international law is “a gross disregard of overwhelming evidence.”

🙋 Signal Cleveland: Cleveland City Council passes Gaza ceasefire resolution after sustained protests at meetings

🇺🇸 Al Jazeera: US State Dept human rights officer latest to resign in Gaza protest

🇨🇦 The Faculty Union of University of Montreal (SGPPUM) became the first in Canada to vote on an Israel boycott motion.

💰 New York Focus: New PAC Launches to Boost Pro-Israel Democrats in New York

Stay safe out there,