Skip to content Skip to footer

UN Palestine Representative Issues Powerful Rebuke of US Ceasefire Veto

“Do they have the right to kill, and the only right we have is to die?” the ambassador pleaded.

Ambassador Majed Bamya, Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the UN headquarters on November 20, 2024, in New York City.

Palestine’s UN ambassador issued a strong rebuke of the high-powered UN Security Council (UNSC) for failing to stop the genocide in Gaza after the U.S. vetoed a ceasefire proposal for the fifth time on Wednesday, questioning whether the council has decided that it is acceptable to sacrifice Palestinian lives.

“There is no right to mass killing of civilians. There is no right to starve an entire civilian population. There is no right to forcibly displace a people. And there is no right to annexation. This is what Israel is doing in Gaza. These are its war objectives,” said Palestinian Ambassador Majed Bamya in an impassioned speech before the council.

On Wednesday, the U.S. used its power as one of five permanent members of the UNSC to veto a resolution that would have demanded a ceasefire, release of captives held by the Israeli military and Hamas, and a return of all Palestinians to their areas of Gaza.

After the vote, Bamya rebuked the council for allowing the genocide to continue, even as member states — including the U.S. — have condemned the civilian suffering in Gaza at the hands of Israeli forces.

“Two million people displaced. Still hunted, even when they are in tents. Total destruction of Gaza and all the requirements of life in it. And war on Lebanon, its people and its sovereignty,” Bamya said. “What does it mean to proclaim all these principles, ‘we reject, we reject, we reject,’ and then shield Israel of the consequences of its actions?”

“Maybe for some we have the wrong nationality, the wrong faith, the wrong skin color. But we are humans and we should be treated as such,” the ambassador went on. “Is there a UN charter for Israel that is different from the charter we all have? Tell us. Is there an international law for them, and an international law for us? Do they have the right to kill, and the only right we have is to die? What the hell does Israel need to do, more, for this council to act?”

Bamya said that there is “no justification whatsoever” for any state to veto a resolution to stop Israel’s slaughter. He pleaded, emotionally, for the council to simply recognize Palestinians as people, with humanity like anyone else.

“One day, someone will dig up the record of these meetings, the records of them — will see us pleading for the lives of our people over and over and over and over again. And they will try to understand why our calls were not heeded,” he said.

The U.S. bears special complicity in Israel’s genocide. The UNSC has seen five similar resolutions come to a vote, just for them to have been vetoed by the U.S. each time, despite the Biden administration’s previous insistence that they are working around the clock for the ceasefire.

Also on Wednesday, in the UN General Assembly, the U.S. was one of six states voting against a resolution affirming the rights of Palestinian refugees to their property and assets; and one of nine states to abstain on a resolution affirming the need for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to continue its work without obstruction, with only three states voting against it.

Bamya said that the UN Security Council is not just obstructing a ceasefire, but also Palestinians’ right to live and have a future.

“There is a world where we could live and grow. And see our children grow with no occupation, no bombs, no tents, no settlements, no walls, no military checkpoints, no prisons. No constant humiliation, no oppression. No houses demolished, no amputations, no pain and no agony,” he said.

“That world can exist today if we were to act. And the fact we are not means that many, many more Palestinians will suffer,” Bamya went on. “It’s this future that is being destroyed before our very eyes. And the entire Palestinian civilian population is the primary victim.”

Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn

Dear Truthout Community,

If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.

We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.

Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.

There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.

Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?

It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.

We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.

We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.

Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 130 new monthly donors before midnight tonight.

We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.

With love, rage, and solidarity,

Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy