The US has vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip that killed 19 Palestinian civilians.
"John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, described the text as "unbalanced" and "biased against Israel and politically motivated".
He added that it did not provide an "even-handed characterisation" of the Israeli shelling of the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun that killed the 19 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The text of the resolution, which was sponsored by Arab states, also condemned the firing of rockets by Palestinian fighters into Israel.
Ten of the council's 15 members voted in favour and four -Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia - abstained.
As one of the council's five permanent members along with Britain, China, France and Russia, the US has veto power which it has now used 82 times, often to shield Israel from censure.
Reaction
Avi Pazner, an Israeli government spokesman, said: "The American veto is very satisfactory.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said: "We condemn this veto.
"We feel it will encourage Israel to continue its escalation against the Palestinian people."
Assembly hearing
Its previous use of the veto was in July to block a Qatari-sponsored draft resolution that would have condemned Israel's military onslaught in Gaza as "disproportionate force" and would have demanded a halt to Israeli operations in the territory.
Diplomats said Arab countries would now most likely take their case to the 192-member UN General Assembly, where their draft would get a more sympathetic hearing."
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Now the pathetic Arab regimes will go begging the General Assembly. Of course they will maintain strong economic, trade, political, diplomatic and military ties with Washington. Victims of Beit Hanoun: RIP, no one gives a damn. By the way the Saudi stock market fell yesterday.
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