The Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” was intended to let Hamas remain standing in Gaza, free to sow terror again. Hamas was not even mentioned in the resolution, nor was there a syllable about the atrocities the terror group carried out on October 7, 2023. The resolution came up for a vote on June 4, and as expected, there were 14 votes for it, and only one against. But that one was the United States, exercising its veto power. The statement by the acting U.S.. representative, Dorothy Shea, was quietly eloquent. You can read it just below:
Ambassador Dorothy Shea
Acting U.S. Representative
New York, New YorkJune 4, 2025
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Madam President.
Colleagues, U.S. opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise. It is unacceptable for what it does say, it is unacceptable for what it does not say, and it is unacceptable for the manner in which it has been advanced.
The United States has been clear: we would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.
In recent months, Hamas has rejected numerous ceasefire proposals, including one over the weekend that would provide a pathway to end this conflict and release the remaining 58 hostages. We cannot allow the Security Council to reward Hamas’s intransigence. After all, it was Hamas who started this brutal conflict on October 7, 2023, when Hamas perpetrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas has sustained it ever since in a manner that threatens Israel’s security and prolongs Palestinian anguish. It is Hamas that continues to threaten Israelis and puts Palestinian civilians in Gaza in harm’s way every day, using them as human shields. They have brutally suppressed those brave enough to challenge its despotic rule.
It is inexplicable that many members of this Council still refuse to acknowledge that Hamas could end this conflict tomorrow by surrendering and laying down its arms. It is unconscionable that the UN still has not labeled and sanctioned Hamas as a terrorist organization. In addition to refusing, once again, to condemn Hamas for the cowardly and evil acts that set this brutal conflict into motion, this resolution contains other serious defects. The United States has taken the very clear position since this conflict began that Israel has a right to defend itself, which includes defeating Hamas and ensuring they are never again in a position to threaten Israel. In this regard, any product that undermines our close ally Israel’s security is a nonstarter.
This resolution would undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that reflects the realities on the ground and emboldens Hamas. This resolution also draws false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, which is both wrong and dangerous. This resolution seeks an “immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire” that would leave Hamas in a position to carry out future October 7 attacks as it has promised. This resolution refuses to acknowledge the disastrous shortcomings of the prior method of aid delivery, which allowed Hamas to enrich itself at the expense of Palestinians and failed to get water and food to those who needed it most. No one wants to see Palestinian civilians in Gaza go hungry or thirsty.
We instead urge the UN and NGOs to support the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to help it safely deliver aid without being diverted by Hamas. The GHF has emphasized it will deliver aid consistent with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
Colleagues, we’ve been clear that in order to move forward, Hamas and other terrorists must have no future in Gaza. As Secretary Rubio has said: if an ember survives, it will spark again into a fire. This Council should use its power to pressure Hamas to accept the proposal on the table. Only after the terror group’s removal can Israel be secure within its own borders, and can Gaza advance toward a brighter and more prosperous future. The United States has worked tirelessly with Egypt and Qatar to bring an end to this horrific conflict for the sake of the region’s people. They want a path forward with opportunity and the prospect of a better tomorrow.
Israelis yearn for a future where they aren’t threatened by daily rocket barrages and other acts of terrorism. Palestinians deserve an opportunity to rebuild their lives free of Iran and the influence of its insidious terrorist proxies. Rather than push forward a resolution that unjustly rewards terrorism, undermines negotiations, and allows Tehran to continue fomenting instability, let’s instead demand that Hamas surrender, disarm, and leave Gaza forever – for the s ake of all the region’s people.
Moreover, we need to be perfectly clear. Performative actions in this Council – designed to draw a veto as evidenced by the process of formulating this resolution, wherein there was no true negotiation, are harmful at a time when there is delicate diplomacy going on in the region to reach a ceasefire. Further, engaging in this performative process – at a time when serious questions are being asked about the utility of the UN, its funding, and use of resources – is shameful. This Council should not be used in this way. This Council must hold itself to a higher standard.
Meanwhile, we’ve had our negotiators on the ground trying to hammer out a real agreement to get hostages released, get a ceasefire, and provide humanitarian assistance. Finally, the United States will never stop working to free all the hostages, including the remains of four Americans murdered by Hamas, who have now been held in squalid conditions for 607 days. They will not be left behind.
Thank you.
Perfect. Could not be bettered. And I like especially, that veiled warning to the UN itself: “Further, engaging in this performative process – at a time when serious questions are being asked about the utility of the UN, its funding, and use of resources – is shameful.”
Now shall we take some names? Here they are: U.K., France, Russia, and China are four of the five permanent members. The U.K., under Keir Starmer and his anti-Israel foreign secretary David Lammy, could not manage to at least abstain. And he speech of he British ambassador was particularly disgusting. Russia and China, as we all know, are two of the world’s worst dictatorships. Of course they would vote against democratic Israel. And France…well, sois-belle et tais-toi, France. We know you have a Macron problem, mais vraiment…you are going to regret it.
And here are ten non-permanent members, all of whom voted for the disgraceful resolution:
- Algeria (2025)
- Denmark (2026)
- Greece (2026)
- Guyana (2025)
- Pakistan (2026)
- Panama (2026)
- Republic of Korea (2025)
- Sierra Leone (2025)
- Slovenia (2025)
- Somalia (2026)
No surprise with the votes of Somalia, Algeria, and Pakistan, Muslim states all. Guyana and Sierra Leone — Third World Solidarity Forever. Slovenia — your guess is as good as mine, but I don’t think resentment of Melania had anything to do with it.
But as with the U.K., it is disappointing to see Denmark and Greece voting for this resolution. The Danes had a good war, helping Danish Jews to make it to safety in Sweden. They used to be so sensible. Where did that Denmark go? And Greece, which has recently had such close ties with Israel, in economic and military matters, two non-Muslim countries that are similarly threatened by the execrable Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Hoi Polloi says
“serious questions are being asked about the utility of the UN, its funding, and use of resources“ was music to my ears. As to Denmark, Greece, and the UK, we have further proof that flooding countries with muslims changes their historical stances on issues. They’re all living in fear of the barbarians inside their gates.
GE says
+💯
So disappointed in the voting, especially Greece. But a lot of Greeks have a leftist bent, imo.
Rick Gordon says
It’s refreshing to see/hear/read the comments from our UN Ambassador that express what ought to be obvious to the world at large. The UN has become an embarrassment rather than the peacemaker we all may have wished for in 1945.
I’m grateful that we have a representative who is so straightforward as contrasted with anyone who ‘waffles’ on these issues. The last representative that did so in my memory was Nikki Haley.
Isabella Hale says
I am not a “fan” of Resolutions which basically is like a taking a Poll because they do not effectuate or enforce anything: but I do agree w/ our Ambassador as well as your editorial. Maybe some of those countries should who voted for this “resolution” should be checked out by DOGE and have their FREE MONEY CUT which America gives und the guise of foreign aid. I have been against foreign aid my whole life. Well said.
somehistory says
“Hamas says US ceasefire veto violates “American values””
Ah, disagreement from hamas….sweet music…..
“A senior Hamas official has slammed America’s decision to exercise its veto power against a United Nations Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, arguing the decision ran contrary to the ideals that Washington purports to promote on the world stage.”
……..”Yet amid uncertainties over the course of the talks, Basem Naim, a Hamas Political Bureau member and spokesperson, told Newsweek that “regardless of its impact on the course of negotiations, this American behavior is shameful and reprehensible.”
“How could the American representative at the United Nations raise her hand against a Security Council resolution that could save the lives of thousands of innocent people?” Naim asked.
“The repeated use of the veto in favor of Israel by successive American administrations confirms that American bias in favor of Israel is a consistent policy,” he said, “regardless of the ruling administration and regardless of Israel’s behavior and policies, which flagrantly violate international law, as well as the values America promotes as supreme values.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hamas-says-us-ceasefire-veto-violates-american-values/ar-AA1G6Nmy?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=3ade7bcae63e41d0b41893e005058262&ei=13
somehistory says
aoc…the NY idiot, has endorsed the moz running for mayor of NYC. …the goon who refuses to say Israel has a right to exist (that’s because as a mozscummy goon, he wants it gone for always) and yet, she made the comment about ‘antisemitism’ after the burning of the Jews in CO by the other mozscummy ghoul.’
aoc, the NY idiot, wants to play on both sides….but she has made her choice, hasn’t she?
Wellington says
Fully seconding your assertion, somehistory, that AOC is an idiot. Yes, she is a common sense idiot and a moral idiot and yet as awful as she is, and she’s pretty bad, people in her Democratic Party like Omar, Tlaib, Schiff, Pressley and Swalwell are even worse.
Truly, the greatest enemy within, here in America, is not Islam, nefarious in its designs as it is, but the Democratic Party. The sooner this is realized the better but at least no real woman and no real man votes Democrat any longer and why I remain cautiously optimistic.