Washington must get Tel Aviv to apply the brakes: China Daily editorial

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning "in the strongest terms" the multiple Houthi attacks on commercial shipping that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of further spillover from the war in Gaza. There were 11 votes in favor, none against, and four countries abstained: China, Russia, Algeria and Mozambique.

No party would like to see the Red Sea, a major global shipping lane, becoming a no-go area. And direct attacks on any civilian targets should be condemned and opposed by all peace-loving nations as they constitute war crimes. It is absolutely necessary for the resolution to call for the navigational rights and freedoms of merchant and commercial vessels to be respected in line with international law.

However, it might not be easy to "address the root causes" of the attacks carried out by Houthi forces based in Yemen, since it is Israel's intensive military offensive in Gaza, which has gone far beyond "self-defense" in response to the Hamas-led attacks on Oct 7, that has prompted the Houthi attacks as a show of support for the Palestinians.

As of this week, Israel's military actions in Gaza, which many call ethnic cleansing and genocide, have caused about 23,200 deaths in the Palestinian enclave over the past three months. It is a pity the resolution omits the "causal link" between the Gaza conflict and the Red Sea tensions. As China's Permanent UN Representative Zhang Jun said, the "ambiguities" of the resolution might serve to exacerbate regional tensions. Some countries can take advantage of the ambiguities to justify their actions targeting the pro-Palestine parties in the Red Sea and beyond.

Due to the US' unconditional support of Israel, the conflicts in Gaza and the Red Sea have become increasingly ugly, and civilian targets have been put in the crosshair by both sides. Even if Washington thinks Tel Aviv has gone too far, it has never stopped providing military and financial support to Israel to help it sustain its brutal military campaign.

If those providing arms to the Houthis are to be condemned, what about those providing arms to Israel?

The question is how long will it take to end the tit-for-tat retaliation that comes at such a cost to civilians. The cold shoulders US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with on his "pro-peace" tour in the Middle East this week indicates that the ball is in the US' court.