It’s in a class by itself.
No sanctions, no enforcement?
None. Just to pick one at random—Security Council Resolu - tion
425 of March 1978. It called on Israel to withdraw immediately and
unconditionally from southern Lebanon. Israel is still there, even
though the request was renewed by the government of Lebanon in
February 1991, when everyone was going at Iraq.
The United States will block any attempt to change things. Many
of the large number of Security Council resolutions vetoed by the
US have to do with Israeli aggression or atrocities.
For example, take the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. At first the
United States went along with the Security Council condemnations.
But within a few days the US had vetoed the major Security Council
resolution that called on everyone to withdraw and stop fighting, and
later vetoed another, similar one.
The US has gone along with the last few UN resolutions or
deportations.
The US has gone along, but has refused to allow them to have any
teeth. The crucial question is: Does the US do anything about it?
For example, the United States went along with the Security
Council resolution condemning the annexation of the Golan Heights.
But when the time came to do something about it, they refused.
International law transcends state law, but Israel says these
resolutions are not applicable. How are they not applicable?
Just as international law isn’t applicable to the United States,
which has even been condemned by the World Court. States do what
they feel like—though of course small states have to obey.
Israel’s not a small state. It’s an appendage to the world
superpower, so it does what the United States allows. The United
States tells it: You don’t have to obey any of these resolutions,
therefore they’re null and void—just as they are when the US gets
condemned.
The US never gets condemned by a Security Council resolution,
because it vetoes them. Take the invasion of Panama. There were
two resolutions in the Security Council condemning the United
States for that invasion. We vetoed them both.
You can find repeated Security Council resolutions that never
passed that condemn the US, ones which would have passed if they
were about a defenseless country. And the General Assembly passes
resolutions all the time, but they have no standing—they’re just
ann
(Ann)
#1