A US-sponsored draft resolution seeking to condemn Palestinian resistance group Hamas at the United Nations General Assembly has failed to gain a majority vote on Thursday.
The 193-member UNGA voted 87-57 in favor of the resolution Thursday while 33 members chose to abstain leaving Washington with a plurality vote that fell short of the two-thirds requirement to adopt the resolution.
The US had originally called for a simple majority vote but the world body opted for a two-third majority instead after a narrow 75-72 vote with 26 abstentions.
The resolution attempted to condemn Hamas for carrying out rocket attacks against Israel and using “airborne incendiary devices” against Israelis living in occupied Palestinian lands.
The resolution came weeks after the Israeli military fired hundreds of rockets into Israel during a two-day flare-up of violence following a botched Israeli attack against a Palestinian anti-occupation commander.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley said before the vote that the assembly could make history condemning Hamas which she referred to as “one of the most obvious and grotesque cases of terrorism in the world.”
“The General Assembly has passed over 700 resolutions condemning Israel. And not one single resolution condemning Hamas. That more than anything else is a condemnation of the United Nations itself” she claimed.
China and Russia were among those voting the measure down. India abstained despite having recently forged warmer ties with the Tel Aviv regime.
After the US draft’s failure the UNGA voted 156-6 to adopt an Irish resolution that called for “the achievement without delay of a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East” on the basis of UN resolutions specially the December 2016 measure.
The resolution also reaffirmed “unwavering support” for a two-state solution along “the pre-1967 borders.”
Tel Aviv tried to undermine the defeat with Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon saying that a majority vote was within reach had the vote “not been hijacked by a political move of procedure.”
Following the vote Hamas hailed the failure of the resolution as a “slap” to US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also commended the outcome.
“The presidency thanked all the states that voted against the American draft resolution affirming that it will not allow for the condemnation of the Palestinian national struggle” the PA’s office said in a statement.
