The United Nations General Assembly failed to pass a resolution Thursday condemning Hamas, serving a crushing defeat to Israel and its American ally after weeks of diplomacy.
The U.S.-backed draft resolution got a comfortable majority of votes but fell short of the two-thirds super-majority needed to pass. Eighty-seven countries voted in favor of the resolution, with 57 opposed. Thirty-three countries abstained and another 23 were not present.
Israeli leaders still praised the outcome as a show of wide support. “Today we achieved a plurality. That plurality would have been a majority if the vote had not been hijacked by a political move of procedure,” Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said.