US Votes against UN Censure of Israel over Golan Occupation

TEHRAN (defapress) – For the first time, the United States voted against an annual UN resolution condemning Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights, dropping its practice of abstaining in the vote.

News ID: 73770

Date: 17 November 2018 - 14:00

The nonbinding resolution was adopted on Friday in a General Assembly committee by a vote of 151 to 2, with the United States and Israel the only ones that opposed the measure.

Fourteen countries abstained.

Outgoing US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution “useless” and “plainly biased against Israel,” AFP reported.

During the debate, Syrian envoy Bashar al-Jafari vowed that Damascus would recapture the heights by peace or by war.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and has continued to occupy two-thirds of the strategically-important territory ever since, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

The Tel Aviv regime has built dozens of illegal settlements in the area since its occupation and used the region to carry out a number of military operations against the Syrian government.

Tel Aviv has also been pressing the US administration under Israel-friendly President Donald Trump to recognize its claim to sovereignty over the occupied territory in defiance of international law.

Syria has repeatedly reaffirmed its sovereignty over the Golan Heights, saying the territory must be completely restored to its control.