The UN Security Council holds a vote for a Brazilian-drafted resolution that calls for humanitarian pauses in Gaza, at the UN headquarters in New York on Oct. 18, 2023. The United States on Wednesday vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have called for humanitarian pauses in Gaza. Photo: Xinhua

On October 18, the US vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, but the draft resolution and the veto are very informative and telling.

First, the most prominent purpose of the resolution was to call for humanitarian pauses.

Secondly, the draft was drafted and submitted by Brazil to the Security Council. Brazil condemned the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas after the attack on October 7, and the draft submitted by Brazil to the Security Council "condemned all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism," and "called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages." The draft urges all parties to comply fully with international law and calls on Israel to rescind its orders for the withdrawal of civilians and United Nations personnel to southern Gaza. Additionally, it calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and the establishment of humanitarian corridors.

Thirdly, 12 countries, including China, voted in favor of the resolution, with the UK and Russia abstaining and the US vetoing it by one vote. China opposed and condemned acts that harm civilians after the conflict broke out and, like many Arab countries, did not take sides, obviously because both Israel and Hamas were killing civilians. China's support this time for the resolution that includes an explicit condemnation of Hamas's killing of civilians does not contradict any previous stance taken. The other 11 countries that voted in favor of the draft, include the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, as well as Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Mozambique and Malta, clearly demonstrates that opposition to the killing of civilians by Hamas is indeed part of the international community's common stance on this conflict.

However, as the world's attention has rapidly shifted to strongly opposing Israel's indiscriminate killing of innocent people in Gaza in the name of "self-defense," the draft submitted by Brazil does not contain any support for Israel's right to self-defense, which is the primary reason the US claimed for vetoing the draft. Nevertheless, the fact that France, Switzerland and Japan were among the countries that voted in favor of the draft, together with the UK's abstention, indicates that the West has moved away from its initial lopsided support for Israel to a divided attitude. Opposition to Israel's bottomless retaliation that violates international law is becoming the attitude of the majority of Western countries, and the US and Israel have once again been isolated.

Russia abstained because it called for an explicit condemnation in the draft text of the indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects in the Gaza Strip, as well as an immediate and durable ceasefire. China and Brazil also voted in favor of both amendments. However, because of the large number of abstentions, the two amendments were not included into the draft resolution that was put to the vote. The whole process of China's vote shows that its opposition to the killing of civilians by both parties has been consistent.

It is clear that the attitude of the international community is still complex, but the call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire is already a worldwide consensus, and only the US is helping Israel to prevent the Security Council adopting this attitude. What is true isolation? True isolation is the US' bottomless siding with Israel and its confrontation with the entire Security Council. 

The author is a Chinese media professional. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn