The United Nations general assembly’s resolution on Wednesday advanced a dramatic legal shift, begun by the international court of justice (ICJ) in July, in how we understand Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The US government’s response suggests a refusal to recognize the new legal reality in which Israel now finds itself.
The general assembly resolution, which largely tracked the ICJ ruling, was adopted by an overwhelming vote of 124 to 14, with 43 abstentions. The tally was even more lopsided than the numbers suggest, given that the “No” votes were limited to Israel, the United States, a group of small Pacific states, and a handful of outliers such as Viktor Orbán’s Hungary and Javier Milei’s Argentina. Britain abstained.
