US Vetoes UN Security Council Gaza Ceasefire Bid; Huckabee Slams 'Outrageous Lies' about Kirk Murder

JERUSALEM, Israel – As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for a visit to New York and Washington next week, the United States again vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Thursday calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire. The veto comes as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sharply criticized "outrageous lies" circulating on social media that Israel was involved in Charlie Kirk's murder.

The veto was the sixth one the U.S. has cast concerning a ceasefire. Of the 15 Security Council member nations, 14 supported the resolution, which demanded that Israel lift restrictions on all humanitarian aid coming into Gaza. It also blamed Israel for a disputed U.N. report of "famine" in the Gaza Strip.

Morgan Ortagus, counsellor at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, warned before the vote that “U.S. opposition to this resolution will come as no surprise.”

She explained, “It fails to condemn Hamas or recognize Israel’s right to defend itself, and it wrongly legitimises the false narratives benefiting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council." Ortagus insisted the resolution "was designed to draw a veto."

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon was more pointed in his criticism, saying, “The proposal was presented without condemnation of Hamas, without condemnation of the Oct. 7th massacre, and without a demand for Hamas to disarm." He added, “This is not diplomacy. This is surrender.”

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia took issue with the U.S. veto, declaring, “So long as Washington does not change the lens through which it regards the crisis in Gaza, so long as multilateral diplomacy of the United Nations is seen there as an obstacle, not as a critically important instrument, there will be no breakthrough on Middle East settlement achieved."

The U.N. demand to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid came just hours after two Israeli soldiers were murdered at the Jordanian-Israeli border by the driver of a truck carrying humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. Four other Israeli soldiers were reported killed by a roadside bomb near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

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Regarding another issue, the claims on social media that Israel was behind the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee opened an interview with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News by calling it "blood libel."

"It’s absolutely disgusting and vicious,” he declared. “The level of untruth is such that it’s hard even to think that you have to defend it. But there are people who will believe the most outrageous lies. I’m very glad the Prime Minister (Netanyahu) addressed it.”

Concerning Netanyahu's upcoming trip to the U.S. The Jerusalem Post's Herb Keinon observed that the visit comes at one of the most perilous times for Israel in its modern history.

Keinon called it a "split-screen reality," noting, "Next Friday he will be battered in New York; the following Monday he will be welcomed in Washington. On Friday, he will be vilified as the embodiment of evil; on Monday, he will be greeted warmly – again – by US President Donald Trump."