Cease-fire in Gaza: Why Germany abstained in UN votes
Germany's decision to abstain in the October 27 vote at the United Nations General Assembly angered Israel's ambassador in Berlin. Three weeks earlier, Hamas terrorists had brutally attacked Israel, killing hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians, and taking many more hostage.
After Israel responded by launching a massive attack on the Gaza Strip, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire to help the people of Gaza. However, the text of the resolution did not address the crimes committed by Hamas. 14 UN member states voted against, including the United States, Israel itself, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Austria. Germany was one of 45 states that abstained.
Israeli ambassador: "That's not enough!"
"We need Germany's support at the UN," Israel's ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, said afterwards. It wasn't enough, he declared, to abstain "because people are incapable of saying explicitly that Hamas is responsible for this brutal massacre."
That was the reason for the abstention: Germany was not prepared to vote in favor of the resolution because it neither mentioned nor condemned the Hamas terror attacks. But it didn't want to vote against the resolution, either, because that would have shown too little consideration for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Furthermore, Germany will always advocate for a cease-fire in any conflict, on principle.
Germany had worked intensively with Canada to try to improve the text before the vote, adding condemnation of the Hamas attacks and hostage-taking, and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. However, this failed to gain the backing of a majority of countries.
Chancellor and foreign office support the abstentions
And the same scenario played out again. On Tuesday, December 12, Germany again abstained at the UN General Assembly in New York. Again, member states were asked to vote on a text that called for a cease-fire, and again Germany voted neither yes nor no.
Its voting behavior was decided on in a close consultation between the Chancellery and the Foreign Office, and many politicians in the Bundestag, from different parties, expressed their approval.
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