During a United Nations Security Council meeting this week, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield launched a full-throated condemnation of Russiaās bombing of Ukraineās largest childrenās hospital on Monday. The attack was a part of a Russian bombing campaign that killed more than 30 Ukrainian civilians.
āWeāre here today because Russia ā¦ attacked a childrenās hospital,ā Thomas-Greenfield said. āEven uttering that phrase sends a chill down my spine.ā
Thomas-Greenfield went on to list a string of Russian attacks on other Ukrainian hospitals throughout the war. She described Russiaās aggression as a ācampaign of terrorā and labeled its attacks on civilian infrastructure as violations of international law. Representatives of other countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, echoed Thomas-Greenfieldās denunciations. (Russiaās ambassador denied responsibility for the Monday bombing.)
āIām very glad the U.S. is coming out and so vocally condemning all of those actions,ā said Jessica Peake, an international law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, referring to Thomas-Greenfieldās comments toward Russia. āBut at the same time, we donāt get any language anywhere near as strong as that when weāre talking about Palestinian hospitals, or Palestinian schools, or Palestinian children.ā
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The U.S. has stood by Israel militarily and diplomatically as it has consistently attacked civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and schools, in Gaza since October 7, in a brutal campaign that the International Court of Justice has deemed a plausible genocide.
Nate Evans, a spokesperson for Thomas-Greenfield, told The Intercept that the ambassador āhas condemned loss of Palestinian civilian lives many, many times in the Security Council,ā while adding that the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine are ātwo very different wars.ā Evans noted that Russiaās invasion of Ukraine was āunprovoked,ā while Israel launched its assault in response to Hamasās October 7 attack on Israel.
But there are also clear parallels in human rights abuses and violations of international law in each respective war, said Peake, who called the U.S. governmentās handling of the conflicts āhypocritical.ā
āWhat we see from the U.S. is a very stark difference in how they are choosing to handle its involvement in pushing for an end to those conflicts,ā said Peake, who is also assistant director of UCLAās Promise Institute for Human Rights.
U.S. officials have said they opposed ceasefire resolutions because they failed to stand by Israelās apparent right to defend itself and argued diplomatic approaches would be more effective than public censures.
Strikes also hit a home in Deir al-Balah, which was inside Israelās āhumanitarian safe zoneā where Palestinians have been told to flee, the Associated Press reported.
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