The United Nations Security Council in session. Photo: Reuters
Once again, the United States has used its veto power at the United Nations Security Council to protect Israel from international accountability. Amid growing global concern over civilian suffering in Gaza, allegations of war crimes and the devastation caused by Israeli military operations, resolutions calling for ceasefires, humanitarian access and independent investigations have been struck down not by a lack of international consensus, but by a single vote from Washington.
It’s an old pattern, and a deeply troubling one. Since 1946, the US has exercised its veto more than 80 times, many of those to block resolutions critical of Israel. From the 1981 veto of a resolution condemning Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor, to the 2001 rejection of international observers in the West Bank, and the 2011 veto of a resolution denouncing settlement expansion, the US has repeatedly used its exceptional power to exempt its ally from scrutiny.
This raises urgent questions about the credibility of the Security Council itself. If one country can obstruct the collective will of the world even in matters involving alleged breaches of humanitarian law, what is the purpose of multilateralism? How can the law have meaning if it does not apply equally to all?
The veto power, granted to the five permanent members of the Council (the US, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China), was designed to ensure post-World War II stability. But it has become an instrument of selective justice. It allows powerful nations and their allies to avoid accountability, while weaker states face sanctions, interventions, or condemnation for far less.
The Security Council’s paralysis in the face of human suffering in Gaza isn’t just a failure of leadership, it’s a systemic failure. It reinforces a rules-based order that applies rigorously to some, and not at all to others. And that breeds resentment, weakens global cooperation and damages the very idea of international law.
This is where South Africa’s role matters.
With a history shaped by colonialism, apartheid and a long liberation struggle, South Africa’s voice carries moral weight. The country has long drawn parallels between apartheid-era South Africa and the treatment of Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The ANC has consistently endorsed Palestinian self-determination as a policy position, with its 2017 national conference resolving to downgrade South Africa’s embassy in Tel Aviv, a move later implemented.
More recently, South Africa took bold legal action by instituting proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of genocide in Gaza. Whatever one’s view on the merits of the case, it signals a powerful shift: a Global South nation using international law to challenge impunity where diplomacy has failed.
But this cannot be the end of South Africa’s engagement. Our government must:
- Continue building global and regional coalitions that push for reform of the Security Council, particularly the limitation of veto use in cases of mass atrocity;
- Encourage African states to take coordinated action in solidarity with Palestine, whether through diplomacy, trade, or civil society partnerships; and
- Mobilise Global South alliances to demand the equal application of international law, especially in forums outside the UNSC where veto power does not apply.
The UN is in a credibility crisis. Its effectiveness depends not only on its resolutions, but on its moral authority. Right now, that authority is being eroded not by those violating the law alone, but by those enabling that violation through silence, paralysis or political convenience.
If we are serious about a fair and just international order, one where law applies equally and no state is above accountability, then reform must follow. That reform will not come from the powerful. It must come from voices like South Africa’s, speaking clearly and persistently not out of charity or sentiment, but out of principle and shared historical understanding.
The veto must no longer be allowed to block justice. And silence must no longer be mistaken for neutrality.
Nkosinathi Mtshali is a Bachelor of Laws student at University of the Free State.