U.S. vetoes UN resolution censuring Israel for Yassin killing
By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
The United States on Thursday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution which called for a condemnation of Israel for the killing of Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin.
Yassin was targeted on Monday in an Israeli helicopter missile strike outside a mosque in Gaza.
Eleven nations, including France, Spain, Russia and China supported the resolution. Three nations, the UK, Germany and Romania abstained, and the U.S. used its veto power, and voted against the resolution.
The killing has been criticized around the world as sparking an escalation of Middle East violence.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman said "the Security Council ... would have committed an unforgivable act of hypocrisy had it come to the defense of a man whose life's work was the eradication of peace, a man who was nothing less than a mass murderer."
Algeria, the only Arab nation council, introduced a draft resolution late on Wednesday condemning "the most recent extrajudicial execution committed by Israel." It has scheduled a vote late on Thursday.
The measure also condemned "all attacks against any civilians as well as all acts of violence and destruction" in an effort to get European votes.
Russia, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, wanted the resolution to pass unanimously, a top diplomat was quoted as saying on Thursday.
"We think this resolution has a sufficiently balanced character and appeal for it to reflect the positions of all Security Council members," Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov as saying.
The U.S., Israel's closest ally, has said it is troubled by the assassination that has echoed throughout the Islamic world. But it opposes the draft resolution because it does not mention Hamas as a group responsible for suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
"If the Security Council is going to pronounce itself on this question, it must recognize the reality that Hamas has been responsible for numerous, extensive and very recent terrorist activities," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said.
The U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China are permanent Security Council members with veto rights.
If a council resolution receives the minimum nine votes needed for adoption and is vetoed, the sponsors can call an emergency session of the 191-nation General Assembly, where a measure critical of Israel is bound to be adopted.
Assembly resolutions, compared to those passed by the Security Council are not binding, except on issues such as UN budgets, but express the will of nations around the world.
Reaching nine votes depends in part on the four European Union members and their allies in the Security Council.
Diplomats foresee a similar split as the past controversial votes on a Middle East resolution - Britain and Germany abstaining and France and Spain approving the measure,
The U.S., Russia, the European Union as well as the UN are members of a quartet of Middle East advisers but have rarely had a unified position on the issue in the Security Council.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday, called Yassin the "godfather of the suicide bombers."
He told reporters that the United Nations could play a key role in Middle East peace efforts and discourage attacks on Israeli civilians by holding a special session against "the phenomenon of terrorism."
Shalom said that "would be a clear sharp voice that would come from this building against terrorism, against extremism and against racism."
Original Story