PM Holness Regrets Jamaica Not Voting In The United Nations Truce Resolution In the Israel-Palestine War

November 21, 2023

Prime Minister Andrew Holness is facing backlash online and seems to be on the wrong side of history as it was revealed that Jamaica did not exercise its right to vote in a recent United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) motion to bring a halt to the current war raging in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine.

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The PM for Jamaica was already under immense scrutiny from members of the public due to a recent viral photo that showed him paying respect to the Jewish faith as he met up with members of the Jewish community. In response to the possible diplomatic blowback, Andrew Holness says he would try to see if the decision for Jamaica not voting could be reversed as he admitted he regretted the decision.

“It is indeed obviously an unfortunate circumstance that we did not get to cast a vote, physically make the vote, but as you have said, everything that we have said and done, including delivering a statement on behalf of Caricom and helping to craft, word and draft the statement suggest that that would have been our vote,” Holness explained.

List Of Countries and Their Position On The Truce Resolution

Jamaica was one of the countries that did not vote in the UNGA truce resolution, as 120 countries voted in favour of a humanitarian truce, 14 voted against and 45 abstentions. According to a statement from Jamaica’s Foreign Minster, Jamaica did not take a position on the matter at the time of the United Nations motion.

However, the PM sought to offer more clarity on Jamaica’s current position on the matter by stating, “Jamaica has voted many times in support of the Palestine cause, and we have also voted in support of matter to do with Isreal because on both side there are claims that could be justified we don’t want to see innocent people die.”

See the report below: