The vast majority of the world voted at the UN General Assembly to demand an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory within 12 months, with 124 countries (64%) in favor, 14 (7%) against, and 43 (22%) abstentions.
The General Assembly resolution was based on a July ruling by the top UN legal authority, the International Court of Justice, which stated that “Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful” and that “Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible”.
The countries that voted against the resolution, in effect supporting Israel’s illegal occupation, were the United States, Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Malawi, Papa New Guinea, and Paraguay, plus the tiny Pacific island nations of Fiji, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, and Tuvalu.
These small island countries that consistently echo Washington’s unpopular votes in the UN are essentially unofficial US colonies, and mostly use the US dollar or Australian dollar as their currencies. Together, the six have a combined population of just over 1 million people, making them some of the smallest nations on Earth.
Among the large countries that abstained were India, Australia, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia.
However, in a break with Washington, a few longtime US allies voted in support of the resolution, most notably Japan, as well as France, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.
Several countries did not vote in the September 18 General Assembly session. These include a few nations that would without a doubt have supported the resolution, such as Venezuela, which lost its voting rights because it cannot pay UN membership fees due to illegal Western sanctions. The US and its European allies have stolen billions of dollars of Venezuelan foreign assets and reserves, and Washington has blocked Venezuela from using the US-controlled financial system.
The resolution was not controversial; it simply called for the implementation of a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s top legal body.
On July 19, the ICJ issued a historic ruling stating:
– the State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful;
– the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible;
– the State of Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
– the State of Israel has the obligation to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
– all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Since war broke out in Gaza in October 2023, Washington has repeatedly vetoed Security Council resolutions that call for peace and a ceasefire.
US President Joe Biden has strongly supported Israel as it has brutally bombed civilians in Gaza, in what UN experts say is a campaign of genocide.
In a press conference in Tel Aviv in October, Biden asserted that “if Israel didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it”, given how strategic the colonial state is for US imperial interests.
Israel rightly, justly, and legally holds its territory. It is not and has never been the territory of any nation called “Palestine.” Israel holds dominion by bequeathment from the British Mandate, itself given authority over the land by war with the Ottoman Empire.
It’s the homeland of the Jews. It’s not the homeland of Palestinian Arabs - most of the “refugees” have never even set foot there. There’s no chain of reasoning or law by which you can state a Palestinian claim to the land of Israel. Even when they were there, they didn’t rule it.
If Israel is legally justly etc the holder of Judaea and Samaria, can you please clarify which scenario you are pushing for: a) giving full Israeli citizenship and rights to the Arabs who have lived in these lands for generations thus ending the Jewish ethno state, b) expulsing them from the lands, thus explicitly advocating for the crime of ethnic cleansing, or c) formally establishing in law an apartheid regime with a permanent underclass? Please clarify.
If Israel is the homeland of any Jewish-American rando from New York, with ancestry in Buttfuckburg East Prussia, whose family hasn’t set foot in the territory for 2000 years, then when do I as a Greek person get to assert my rights in beachfront property in Marseille and in Syracuse? Apollo promised it to me, we have a Delphic oracles and everything. Also, i have a Russian friend who says Kiyv was originally the homeland if the Rus people and therefore his country should get full rights to that land. Does he also get the privilege?
By your own reasoning, regarding the Arabs in the lands of greater Israel, I would like to bring up jewish people living in any other country that is not officially Jewish, where “even when they were there, they did not rule it”. Can you please clarify exactly what kind of antisemitic policies you are willing to endorse and accept? Should for example British Jews enjoy full rights in the UK? Do British Jews get to consider the UK their country, their home? Do they ever get to be full and equal UK citizens, whose allegiance, rights etc are not to be questioned by any special policy, institution or individual? Or should Jews outside Israel be subject to the kind of treatment Israel reserves for Arabs?
(To be clear, I don’t endorse any of this insanity. I’m just pointing out the absurdity of your extremist argumentation.)
I’m not pushing for any “scenario” save Israel’s military victory in Gaza - a victory that ends with every member of Hamas dead or in custody (and then dead by execution) and the province of Gaza returned to Israeli administration. Or not! Honestly, who cares?
How do you figure “2000 years”? They probably have family there right now. They probably flew there for Seder!
That’s correct; Jews have been second-class citizens and subject to oppression, explulsion, and genocide in every nation on Earth save their own. Hence, control over their homeland is necessary to prevent the complete extinction of the Jewish people and their culture. Great point, thanks for making it!
Arabs aren’t so treated in Israel. They’re first class citizens with their own representation in the government. Does the UK extend Jews their own member of the legislature or naw?
You didn’t really answer any of my questions.
I also clarified my point 3 in an edit that I was talking about the treatment of Arabs in Samaria and Judaea. Sorry about the confusion.
They were mostly nonsense. It actually doesn’t matter whether you can make the case that the British didn’t have the legal or moral authority to allow the Jews to create a state in the Mandate; they did, and it is now a nation of several million people, many born there and with no other citizenship whatsoever.
That’s simply a fact, just as borders are a fact. If you purport to reverse the creation of Israel, you’re advocating for a genocide many times worse than the Holocaust. You’re advocating for the pogrom to end all pogroms; a vast, multi-national effort to commit ethnic cleansing in the Levant.
Nope, never did, I never questioned Israel proper. The discussion is about the occupied territories, that were the subject of this UN GA resolution, and that you specifically said are super duper legally owned by Israel.
Edit: and if the questions sound nonsensical (something that I myself pointed out in my original comment) it’s because they are questioning your deranged extreme-zionist assertions.
Edit2: wherever you see “greater Israel” I’m talking about the area currently under Israeli effective control: Israel proper+ West Bank +Gaza +Golan Heights +those Lebanese farms.
There are no “occupied territories.” The only land occupied by Israel is that which constitutes its sovereign territory.
Countries don’t “occupy” themselves.
Lol, ok so then answer my questions.
Israel is the legal successor state to the British Mandate for Palestine as it was the only state established within its borders. That gives Israel a legal claim under international law to the whole territory.
Palestinians have a claim to the land because the population has lived in the land for a long time and can establish a state under the right to self determination.
These are competing claims.
But they can’t, though, because they aren’t self-determining - sovereign - and never have been. There’s no legal Palestinian claim to the State of Israel.
This is such a tone-deaf and lazy argument. You could use this same argument to defend every colonial power in history.
But the Arabs are the colonial power. Judea and Samaria aren’t in Arabia, are they?
I won’t even dignify such a dumb statement with an answer.
They don’t need to have been sovereign before to be able to exercise self-determination.
Palestinians don’t have a claim to the State of Israel. They have a right to form their own political entity.
They did. It’s called Jordan.
Not really. There are plenty of Palestinians living in Jordan without Jordanian citizenship.
All Jordians are Palestinians with Jordanian citizenship, though.
Where are you getting all this. Please cite some reputable sources.
He’s just spouting the old Zionist propaganda. It’s not even new stuff. Don’t legitimize him.
The source is well-known history. Open any book on the topic: British Mandate wasn’t just given to the Jews. The State of Israel was created for the Jews, and the Kingdom of Transjordan (now Jordan) was created for the Arabs. When they say “river to the sea” what river did you think they meant?
Jordan is the nation that Palestinians already have. They don’t want another one; they want the Jews to not have one at all.
Most Jordanians are Arab, many of them identify as Palestinian, but there are also other minorities.
Are all Palestinians Arabs?