Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and current Chair of The Elders in the UN, had strong words for US President Joe Biden and his response to the ongoing war in Gaza.
"President Biden’s support for Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza is losing him respect all over the world," Robinson said in a statement on Monday, December 18.
"The US is increasingly isolated, with allies like Australia, Canada, India, Japan and Poland switching their votes in the UN General Assembly to support an immediate humanitarian ceasefire."
Robinson said the US cannot afford to be further isolated by vetoing a UN Security Council resolution "to increase and monitor the humanitarian aid urgently needed in Gaza to save lives." The vote on the resolution was supposed to take place on Monday but was delayed until Tuesday.
"But even if passed, such resolutions are not enough. UNSCR 2712, agreed last month, is not being fully implemented. It calls for the protection of civilians, the release of all hostages, and immediate humanitarian access. Only a ceasefire will allow for these calls to be met.
“It is negotiation that has led to Israeli hostages being released. Israeli military action has caused the deaths of Israeli hostages, as well as thousands of Palestinian civilians. The destruction of Gaza is making Israel less safe.
"President Biden’s continuing support for Israel’s actions is also making the world less safe, the Security Council less effective, and US leadership less respected. It is time to stop the killing."
Speaking to CNN later on Monday from Dublin, Robinson said: "It gives me no joy, no pleasure at all to have to be critical of President Biden. He happens to be a close personal friend, I know him for a long number of years, we were very warm with each other when he visited Ireland.
"But sometimes, you have to speak truth to power.
"And it's not just Israel that's losing international support, as America has warned, it's America, it's the United States by being too close to a government that is not leading well, and the government of Israel is not leading well with this heavy bombardment and indiscriminate breaches of international humanitarian law."
Robinson said that The Elders have called upon the US, as well as the UK, "to not have unlimited, unconditional arming of Israel."
She continued: "You have to push restraint. If you're calling for restraint, put your own restraint by putting it on the voting on any military support for Israel and any armaments being provided.
"And instead, President Biden sadly went outside Congress and provided recent armaments to Israel.
"And that doesn't play well, to be honest, internationally, because it's showing support without conditions while calling for restraint. And it's weak. It shows that the United States is not able to enforce its own desire that Israel would be more restrained."
“Sometimes, you have to speak truth to power" – The Elders’ Chair Mary Robinson on why US support for the Government of Israel must change.
More from Mary Robinson on the need for President Biden to back UNSC ceasefire vote on Gaza: https://t.co/FvZv22tlsl #CeasefireNOW @IsaCNN pic.twitter.com/WuIMJnSlCI
— The Elders (@TheElders) December 19, 2023
In Ireland, Biden's response to the ongoing war has also been raised several times in the Dáil, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar commenting last week that Israel "is very quickly losing support and sympathy all around the world.
"Even its closest ally, the United States, is, I believe, beginning to have second thoughts about what is unfolding in Gaza."
Meanwhile, a New York Times / Siena poll of registered voters nationwide in the US this month found that 36% of people strongly disapprove of the way Biden is handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while 21% somewhat disapprove.
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