By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United States cannot ignore the impact the war in Gaza has had on Israel’s global standing, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, as Israel’s diplomatic isolation mounts despite Washington’s attempts to shield its ally.
“Whether you believe it was justified or not, right or not, you cannot ignore the impact that this has had on Israel’s global standing,” Rubio told CBS News’ ‘Face The Nation’.
He was responding to a question about remarks by President Donald Trump to Israel’s Channel 12 in an interview published on Saturday: “Bibi (Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) has gone too far in Gaza and Israel has lost a lot of support in the world. Now I will return all that support.”
The United States has for decades diplomatically shielded its ally Israel at the U.N. Here’s how that has played out during the Gaza war:
HAS THE U.S. USED ITS U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL VETO ON GAZA?
The United States has cast six vetoes to shield Israel in the U.N. Security Council over the past two years on draft resolutions related to the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
The most recent veto by Washington was last month on a draft Security Council resolution that would have demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and that Israel lift all restrictions on aid deliveries to the Palestinian enclave. The remaining 14 council members voted in favor, isolating the United States.
The U.S. did agree last month to a Security Council statement condemning recent strikes by Israel on Qatar’s capital Doha, but the text did not mention Israel by name.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY?
The 193-member General Assembly has adopted several resolutions on Gaza, largely after the Security Council was blocked from taking action by the United States. The General Assembly votes have seen Israel and the U.S. overwhelmingly isolated.
General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry weight as a reflection of the global view on the war. Unlike the U.N. Security Council, no country has a veto in the General Assembly.
Most recently the General Assembly demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza and aid access. The resolution garnered 149 votes in favor, while 19 countries abstained and the U.S., Israel and 10 others voted against.
In October 2023, the General Assembly called for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza with 120 votes in favor. In December 2023, 153 countries voted to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Then in December 2024, it demanded – with 158 votes in favor – an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.
WHAT ACTION HAS THERE BEEN ON A TWO-STATE SOLUTION?
Rubio noted on Sunday that “because of the length of this war and how it’s gone” some key Western powers – France, Britain, Australia and Canada – had decided to recognize a Palestinian state.
France and Saudi Arabia convened an international summit at the U.N. in July, which was followed up by a summit at the U.N. last month, in a bid to outline steps toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
The U.N. General Assembly last month overwhelmingly voted to endorse a declaration from the July conference that outlined “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution. A resolution endorsing the declaration received 142 votes in favor and 10 against, while 12 countries abstained.
The U.N. has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
The U.S. says a two-state solution can only come from negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Netanyahu has bluntly said he would never allow a Palestinian state, though he has given his approval to Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, which offers a possible pathway, albeit a highly conditional one, to a Palestinian state.
HOW DID THE WAR START?
An October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and about 251 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than 67,000 people, also mostly civilians, have since been killed during the war in Gaza, according to local health authorities.
Just weeks after the war started U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Reuters NEXT conference that the number of civilians killed at that point showed that there was something “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operations.
“It is also important to make Israel understand that it is against the interests of Israel to see every day the terrible image of the dramatic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people,” Guterres said. “That doesn’t help Israel in relation to the global public opinion.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
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