'Israel' sides with Ukraine in anti-Russia UNGA vote
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The Israeli occupation chooses to vote against Russia at UNGA, supporting Western-backed Ukraine.
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Monitors showing the results of a United Nations General Assembly vote for a UN resolution for Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, at UN headquarters (AP)
"Israel" was one of 141 UN votes that expressed solidarity with Ukraine during a two-day debate that was set to conclude Thursday afternoon with a vote on a resolution calling on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine and for a peace agreement.
The draft UN resolution echoed a request made by the General Assembly last year for Moscow to withdraw troops from Ukraine. In response, Russia has described the text as "unbalanced and anti-Russian" and urged countries and "Israel" to vote against it.
"Israel", which voted in favor of the resolution, emphasized its support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia at the UNGA.
“Israel will continue our solidarity with Ukraine by supporting this resolution – and every other resolution that reflects our position at the UN,” the Israeli occupation Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, explained.
To justify the occupation's support for Ukraine, Erdan directed the attention toward Iran, as if blaming it for the decision, by connecting Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons with the war in Ukraine, given that Tehran has a military alliance with Moscow and is allegedly supplying it with armed drones, despite repeated denials.
And just like that, a vote on an anti-Russia resolution turned into a podium to take a swing at Iran.
"Ukraine has been a testing ground for Iran,” Erdan claimed. “Their armaments are now being sold to some of the most dangerous international actors. If this is what the Iranian threat looks like today, I truly cannot imagine what it will be like should Iran become a nuclear threshold state,” he said.
“It’s time, not for the international community [just] to wake up but to act against the Iranian threat,” Erdan said. “Iran must be stopped," he cried out.
Read next: 'Israel' part of anti-Russian Western camp: Ex-ambassador Zasypkin
UN adopts resolution
The United Nations overwhelmingly voted Thursday to demand that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine "immediately" and "unconditionally", marking the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine war with a call for a "just and enduring" peace.
The West's backed Ukraine received substantial support in a non-binding vote in which 141 of the 193 UN members voted in favor, seven against, and 32 abstained, including China and India.
On the eve of the first anniversary of the war, support for Kiev remained mostly unchanged from last October, when 143 countries voted to condemn Russia's special military operation.
The resolution reiterated support for Ukraine's "sovereignty and territorial integrity."
It also demanded "that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders," and called "for a cessation of hostilities."
On its part, Russia strongly dismissed the resolution, with its UN representative Vasily Nebenzya calling Ukraine "neo-Nazi" and accusing the West of sacrificing the country and the developing world in their desire to beat Russia.
"They are ready to plunge the entire world into the abyss of war" to maintain their own "hegemony", Nebenzya said.
