The (In)Security Council of the (Dis)United nations

Aid trucks have started moving into Gaza. On the one hand, there are the helpless children, the elderly, and others who are waiting for water, medicine, and food when every drop of aid can save a life. On the other side, there are countless trucks waiting to enter there with all the necessary supplies. How many lives were lost in the days it took to get that one entry? Vehicles still cannot get there with sufficient quantities of supplies and speed. The supplies getting to Gaza are the result of efforts by the United Nations and its arms, the Commission on Human Rights, some other heads of state, voluntary organisations, activists, and many others. It should make us think why it took so long to even open the door of mercy as the vast majority of humanity wanted in the face of a great disaster. The problem is not the lack of resources; and not the lack of vehicles to deliver them. Rather, the world has been rendered inert in the face of a terrorist state's dogma and brutality. Gaza's current experiences show the reality of a horrifying collective that has turned things like the United Nations into mere spectators. If Gaza is besieged by Israel, the UN is besieged by a number of its allies. Those who took Gaza hostage have already taken the UN hostage. At a critical juncture, the United Nations was neutralised with all its resources because those who closed the Rafah border to Gaza had previously neutralised the UN's capacity to act.

Also read: UN Palestinian refugee agency reports 29 staff deaths since Israel attacked Gaza

What happened recently at the UN headquarters in New York was the latest example of the dire situation that has befallen the UN. The Security Council met as Israel's bombardment on captive Gazans loomed. Russia's motion calling for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds was rejected without the necessary support. It meant that the Security Council could not even demand that helpless people not be massacred. Then the Security Council met again after Israel began mass slaughter with a terrible bombardment. A resolution was tabled at the UN Security Council when Israel killed thousands including children by withholding food, water, electricity, and fuel. The resolution was to call off the attack to bring much-needed relief. When the resolution stood every chance of being approved by 12 of the 15 members, there came the US veto. Is the US justified in applying the veto even in this humanitarian issue? The reason was that the resolution said nothing about Israel's right to self-defence! Which means that the prerequisite for asking to stop human cruelty is to concede that the attacker has the right to kill! As UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese later pointed out Israel's actions in Gaza, which have already killed more than 4,000 Palestinians, including 1,524 children, are not self-defence. But the US does not care.

It did not happen suddenly that the UN had no plan or ability to prevent or stop the current crisis. This mercy killing was also the reward of that nation to the United Nations, which gave legitimacy to the artificial state of Israel under the influence of some colonial powers. The United Nations and its crucial bodies like the Security Council have been rendered irrelevant by the forces that side with Israel today. The very first goal of the UN Charter was to work collectively for 'international peace and security'. The UN said that there should be no invasion or colonisation. And then? Three years ago, as the U.N. celebrated the end of the Third International Decade to Eradicate Colonialism, Israel was colonising Palestine unimpeded. The UN, which led the way to defeat apartheid in South Africa through collective sanctions, cannot even call Israel's colonialism or apartheid by that name. The UN, which condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine within hours, cannot even condemn the seven-and-a-half-decade Israeli occupation. Today, the UN itself is mocked by countless resolutions passed by the body, including those that say the occupation of Palestine is unjust (2016) and the use of excessive force against the Palestinians is illegal (2018), and that Palestine has the right to armed defence and struggle for independence, and the right to return to its land and home. Israel has occupied this (Dis)united Nations and its (In)Security Council.

Also read: Attempts to suppress pro-Palestinian voice by ultra-Jewish groups in US: Report