The General Assembly at UN headquarters. Photo / AP
Pacific nations raised the collective eyebrows of human rights advocates and one former Fijian prime minister, when they joined a tiny bloc just 16 countries in voting against a United Nations resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The resolution also called for the “protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations”.
It was supported by 121 countries in the United Nations General Assembly, including New Zealand, allowing it to reach the two-thirds majority required to pass. This 121 figure was one more than the 120 initially reported, after a technical glitch caused a country to cast the wrong vote.
Among the 14 countries that voted against the motion were six from the Pacific: Fiji, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Tonga. These countries were joined by the United States and Israel itself in voting against the resolution.
Kiribati, Palau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu joined Australia in abstaining, while Samoa did not cast a vote.
While the decision received substantial criticism including from some Pacific politicians, New Zealand international relations scholars and followers of Pacific politics were less surprised.
The vote of the six states likely reflects the confluence of factors, both international and domestic.
Otago University Professor Robert Patman reckoned the resolution’s lack of condemnation of Hamas, which carried out the October 7 attacks that sparked the conflict, was significant.
“Many Pacific states were disappointed by the resolution’s absence of any specific condemnation of Hamas, Israel’s right to defend itself, and the failure to call for the immediate release of the hostages,” Patman said.
A Canada-backed amendment that condemned Hamas and called for the release of hostages was supported by a number of Pacific nations including Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, and Tonga.
Patman reckoned it was significant that the US and Australia, two important actors in the Pacific, said they would not support the resolution, although only the US went as far as voting it down.
New Zealand, the other large player in the region, was perhaps too bogged down in post-election governing talks to try and persuade neighbours to vote in support.
Patman believed New Zealand’s “ability to actively persuade Pacific Island states to be more forward leaning on the resolution may have been constrained by the political transition in Wellington following the election”.
Victoria University Professor Jon Fraenkel added that in some cases the votes against the resolution were largely a function of Pacific domestic politics.
The coalition government in Fiji, which came to power late last year, is comprised of parties that strongly back Israel, thanks to its religious significance and the country’s historic support for Fiji’s powerful military.
Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), the post-election “kingmaker” is deeply supportive of Israel. During coalition negotiations, it made establishing an embassy in Jerusalem a bottom line.
It is common for countries to accredit their representation to Israel to Tel Aviv, given the centrality and controversy of Jerusalem to Palestinian peace talks.
When the Trump administration shifted the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognised the city as Israel’s capital, it raised the collective eyebrows of many diplomats and politicians including then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern who said it would not bring the region closer to peace.
However in Fiji, the move had support from Soldepa and its then-leader Rabuka.. At the time, Rabuka noted that after the 1987 Fijian coups, which he led, Israel established an embassy in Suva when many countries were scaling back diplomatic representation in Fiji.
RNZ Pacific reported in 2018 that Rabuka was thankful of Israel’s long history of supplying Fiji with military hardware. He said Israel had supplied M16 rifles when the US stopped, and Israel gave Fiji four patrol boats when Australia excluded Fiji from a programme to supply patrol boats.
Another reason for the vote was more straightforwardly religious.
Fraenkel said Rabuka’s new party, the Peoples Alliance, “also includes many devout Christians who are strongly loyal to Israel”.
Fraenkel said the real problem is the international blowback is a “sign of poor diplomacy”.
Victoria University Professor David Capie told the Herald “Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau have historically been some of the strongest supporters of Israel in the United Nations. Alongside the US and Canada, they regularly feature in the top handful of states whose votes align with Israel’s on Israel-related resolutions”.
A recent report to the United States congress on the number of times countries sided with the US on UN resolutions. It found that on Israel-related resolutions Pacific Island states were more likely to vote with the US than many other nations. Given the US sided with Israel on 95 per cent of Israel-related resolutions, this is a useful proxy for how closely-aligned some Pacific Islands are with Israel.
Fiji voted with the US 27 per cent of the time on Israel-related issues, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia both voted with the US 95 per cent of the time, Papua New Guinea voted with the US 50 per cent of the time, Nauru voted with the US 73 per cent of the time, and Tonga voted with the US 41 per cent of the time.
By way of comparison, the same statistic for New Zealand was just 14 per cent, and Australia voted with the US 68 per cent of the time.
In Fiji, the political blowback to the vote is already causing problems for the Government, with criticism forcing Rabuka to take to X (formerly Twitter) to defend the country’s position and confirm it would not endanger Fijians serving abroad.
Rabuka said he had not put religious beliefs ahead of the safety of Fijian peacekeepers stationed abroad.
“Regarding allegations that religious beliefs influence decision-making, it’s important to note that the safety of Fijian peacekeepers has always been a concern,” he tweeted.
Fiji is a significant contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, including in the Middle East. A UN press release from last year said close to 350 personnel are deployed to seven operations with 160 being deployed to UN’s mission in Iran.
The former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama Bainimarama raised concerns to RNZ Pacific that these troops could become targets after the vote.
“We have troops in the Middle East, in Iraq, Syria... all over the Middle East. That is a concern for us. Parents of the troops are worried about what will Hamas do to them in the Middle East. That is the other thing we should be worried about,” he said.
Fraenkel reckoned the vote “has the capacity to destabilise the governing coalition because the third coalition partner [the National Federation Party], is more likely to stand with the Palestinians and because the powerful Republic of Fiji Military Forces, which has troops in the Middle East, would prefer to closely associate itself with such UN resolutions”.
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.
He's facing five charges for alleged crimes over three days.