Praises Israel to EU for vetoing UN recognition of Palestine

Madrid. The government of Israel praised the United States for using its veto power this Thursday in the vote held in the UN Security Council for the admission of Palestine as a full member of the international organization, a process that has been paralyzed since 2011.

“The proposal to recognize a Palestinian state, more than six months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and after the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists, is a reward for ‘terrorism’,” said the minister. Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz.

In this sense, he stressed that “‘terrorism’ will not be rewarded” and that “Israel will continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed and the 133 hostages in Gaza are freed.” He also considered that “it is outrageous that even half a year after the October 7 massacre, the UN Security Council has not condemned the horrendous crimes of Hamas.”

Israeli diplomatic spokesman Oren Marmorstein added that the Palestinian Authority, “which pays stipends to the murderers of Jews, does not meet the international criteria that define statehood,” stating that “the Algerian proposal to improve the status of the Palestinians in the UN is immoral, invites more violence, violates the principle of direct negotiations and it is good that the proposal has been rejected.

These statements came after the United States vetoed the proposal, while the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained. As a consequence, Palestine will continue to be a non-member permanent observer state, a status it has had since 2012.

The resolution had to have the support of at least nine of the 15 members of the Council, with no permanent member – the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom – voting against. Once this process was completed, the resolution had to go through a second vote in the General Assembly, where it had to have a majority of two thirds of the 193 member states that comprise it.

The vote in the Security Council takes place in the midst of an offensive by the Israeli army against the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in response to its attacks on October 7, which left 1,200 dead and 240 hostages. Since then, Palestinian authorities have reported the deaths of nearly 34,000 people, including around 460 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem due to the actions of Israeli security forces and settlers.