RIO DE JANEIRO — The U.S. opposition to an immediate cease-fire in Gaza came under repeated criticism during a two-day meeting of the chief diplomats of the world’s 20 largest economies in the latest sign of Washington’s isolation on the issue.
The Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, the host of this year’s annual Group of 20 gathering, began the meeting by decrying the “paralysis” at the United Nations Security Council, where Washington vetoed a third resolution for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza earlier in the week.
“This state of inaction results in the loss of innocent lives,” Vieira said.
The top diplomats at the gathering, which included Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, offered their views on various geopolitical issues in a session that was closed to the media so officials might express themselves more candidly.
But by mistake, a small group of journalists, including from The Washington Post, were able to listen in on the session because the audio headsets continued broadcasting the remarks, unbeknownst to the Brazilian hosts.
Australia, a close ally of the United States, supported an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and strongly warned regarding the “further devastation” that might result from Israel’s announced military campaign in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter.
“We say once more to Israel — do not go down this path,” said Australia’s representative, Katy Gallagher. “This would be unjustifiable.”
South Africa, which has accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, a charge Israel strenuously denies, said world leaders had “allowed impunity to hold sway.”
“We have failed the people of Palestine,” said Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation.
The accidentally broadcast remarks created a sharp contrast with the G-20 gathering in India last year, where Blinken sought to unite world powers in condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the time, Blinken found a more receptive audience when he invoked the United Nations Charter and the principles of sovereignty to criticize Moscow’s land grab.
But in Brazil, diplomats invoked those same principles to criticize the ongoing war in Gaza, where the United States has provided Israel political cover and billions of dollars’ worth of bombs and military equipment.
“If, for example, we had been united” behind the “principles set out in the U.N. Charter,” said
