Dozens of Jewish rabbis staged a sit-in inside the UN Security Council hall in New York, demanding an immediate and permanent cessation of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, and they urged the administration of US President Joe Biden not to obstruct the moves aimed at that in the Security Council by using the veto.
The protests were organized by American Jewish groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and Rabbis for a Ceasefire.
Thirty-six rabbis participated in the sit-in, which took place yesterday, Tuesday, inside the hall of the United Nations Security Council, carrying banners against the war on Gaza and chanting slogans demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
A live broadcast by the “Rabbis for a Ceasefire” organization – on the YouTube platform – showed dozens of rabbis chanting inside the Security Council hall in support of the ceasefire, raising banners that read, “Biden… stop the veto against peace” and “Biden… the world says: Stop shooting.”
A speech delivered by one of the sit-in participants said, “We are here to support the United Nations to move for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and to demand that the United States step down through the United Nations to take urgent action to protect the lives of innocent people. We are here because the United Nations is the appropriate place to make real moves to stop Shooting and holding Israel accountable for the crimes it committed during the war.”
This protest in the Council Hall coincided with a plenary session held by the United Nations General Assembly to discuss the issue of the use of the “veto” by the United States in the Security Council on December 22, 2023 against an amendment proposed by Russia to a draft resolution submitted by the UAE regarding the situation in Gaza and Israel.
The Russian amendment called for adding the demand for a ceasefire to the draft resolution that was adopted No. 2720 with the approval of 13 of the 15 members of the Council, with the United States and Russia abstaining from voting.
The resolution called for urgent steps to be taken to allow immediate, expanded, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid, and to create the necessary conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities, according to the United Nations website.
The United Nations called for a ceasefire in Gaza for humanitarian reasons, after the huge toll of martyrs resulting from the Israeli aggression on the Strip, but Washington used its veto to obstruct Security Council resolutions aimed at stopping the war, arguing that this would allow the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which rules Gaza, to reorganize Its ranks.
More than three-quarters – the 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly – supported a move to demand an immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds last December.