America's war on Palestine

Coinciding with the deadly pagers blast in southern Lebanon, the United Nations General Assembly has once again held a futile vote in favour of Palestine, with an overwhelming majority of the world's countries demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Unfortunately, since none of those countries was the United States, the entire exercise was pointless. Washington's full-throated defence of any Israeli state actions, up to and including war crimes and genocide, makes it impossible for the General Assembly to take any meaningful action. The world body can only take meaningful action if the US is on board. Even at the Security Council level, the US has a long history of ignoring votes that it disagrees with.

The resolution - Palestine's first-ever since being granted the right to propose them last month - also follows up on a June advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which said the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements is illegal and should be withdrawn "as rapidly as possible". The vote on the Palestinian resolution came ahead of the annual General Assembly moot next week, when world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will speak. The International Criminal Court is seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu to face trial for war crimes. Unsurprisingly, the US is now the only country actively blocking the move, perhaps because, as Israel's main weapons supplier, accepting that Netanyahu is a war criminal makes Washington complicit in war crimes.

And while the US and its allies do have a legitimate concern over the refusal of several countries to condemn the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as terrorism, even though they intentionally targetted unarmed civilians, including children, Washington and its diplomats also refuse to acknowledge or condemn the exact same crimes when they are committed by the Israelis, and even when the victims are American. If Washington refuses to prioritise Israel over its own citizens, there is no way that the Palestinians have any chance of having their humanity and suffering acknowledged.