Introduction

This week, for the first time since the start of the Gaza war, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. It passed after the U.S. abstained from voting, rather than using their veto power — as they did three times before. 

For many watching, it was a very big deal — and the strongest sign yet of a fracture in the long and special relationship the US has with Israel. But is it really?

Today the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, joins us to talk about that pivotal UN vote, and whether it’s just symbolic — or if it means something more.