EDITORIAL

Back UN Secretary General Guterres’ Call for Gaza Ceasefire Now!

by Dennis Small

[Print version of this editorial]

Dec. 11—The Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres on Dec. 10 issued another dramatic call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. He did this because on Dec. 8, the United States again vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding such a ceasefire. Guterres responded,

Regrettably the Security Council failed to do it, but that does not make it less necessary. So, I can promise I will not give up.

Nor has the rest of the world.

The UN General Assembly met in an emergency session Dec. 12 to discuss a new resolution presented by Egypt and Mauritania, also demanding an immediate ceasefire. That resolution already had 103 sponsors. And 12 out of the 15 current members of the UNSC traveled to the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, to see for themselves what the horrendous conditions are like there, due to Israel’s U.S.-backed bombing and ethnic cleansing spree across Gaza.

UN Security Council resolutions bind member nations, whereas UN General Assembly statements do not. But massive international pressure is building to force America to change its policy. Most of the world—minus Netanyahu and the British, of course—is lined up against the U.S. government on this matter, and rightly so.

If the entire world is driven to break with a United States committed to endless wars; if the United Nations is not allowed to fulfill its mission as guardian of world peace and security; then World War III will be upon us. The United Nations must be made to function; the world cannot descend into the Wild West of the “rules-based order” so beloved of Wall Street and the City of London, since they are the ones making the rules. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi asserted to the same Doha Forum to which Guterres spoke, “Israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region that will define generations to come.”

Even the Associated Press had to admit in a Dec. 10 article that Israel’s offensive “has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. About 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced within the besieged territory.” It said Israel’s Netanyahu has gotten away with this because

The United States has lent vital support … by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution to end the fighting and pushing through an emergency sale of over $100 million worth of tank ammunition to Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently lectured the heads of government of Spain and Belgium: “History does not favor Jesus Christ over Genghis Khan. History favors the strong.” Are we, as Americans, really prepared this holiday season, to go down in history as choosing Genghis Khan over Jesus Christ?

True: An immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza will not solve the underlying problems in Southwest Asia or the world. But it will stop the genocide of 2.3 million people—and allow the world to preserve the minimum of honor and morality it needs for the larger tasks ahead.

One of those is dismantling the military-industrial complex (MIC), a major force driving the endless wars, as documented in an article by the American Friends Service Committee’s Action Center on Corporate Accountability. The MIC is not limited to America, but is international in scope. And it is not only the builders of tanks and missiles, but also Wall Street and City of London financial interests that actually run the Lockheeds and Raytheons of the world.

It is time to “Retool for Peace,” to take the significant scientific, technological, and machine tool capabilities in that sector—including the skilled workers, engineers and scientists who would prefer using their talents to benefit humanity—and repurpose them for the LaRouche global reconstruction plan, the only basis for lasting peace.