Israel rejects UN General Assembly resolution on two-state solution

Israel has strongly condemned a United Nations General Assembly resolution endorsing a declaration on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling the move “a political circus detached from reality.”

“Israel utterly rejects the decision of the UN General Assembly this evening,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X, Caliber.Az reports.

“Once again, it has been proven how much the General Assembly is a political circus detached from reality: in the dozens of clauses of the declaration endorsed by this resolution, there is not a single mention that Hamas is a terrorist organization," he noted. 

Marmorstein added that the resolution “does not advance a solution of peace — on the contrary, it encourages Hamas to continue the war,” stressing that “Hamas is solely responsible for the continuation of the war, through its refusal to return the hostages and disarm.”

He also thanked the countries that opposed the measure, calling it a “disgraceful decision.”

The UN General Assembly on September 12 overwhelmingly endorsed the New York Declaration, which outlines “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. The seven-page declaration also calls for Hamas to release all hostages and condemns the group’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

The non-binding resolution passed with 142 votes in favour. Israel, the United States, Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Tonga voted against, while 12 countries abstained.

The declaration also urges “collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the effective implementation of the two-state solution.”

By Sabina Mammadli