Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled plans to send a delegation to Washington on Monday after the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution calling for an “immediate cease-fire” in the Jewish state’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution passed the Security Council 14-0, with the US abstaining — declining to exercise its veto power in the latest rebuke of Israel by the Biden administration.
In a statement, the Israeli PM’s office called the US abstention “a clear retreat from the consistent position of the US in the Security Council since the beginning of the war.”
“This withdrawal hurts both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages, because it gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a cease-fire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office added.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear last night that if the US withdraws from its principled position, he will not send the Israeli delegation to the US,” the statement concluded. “In light of the change in the American position, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided that the delegation would not go.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday the Israel cancellation was “disappointing” while insisting the abstention “does not, and I repeat, does not represent the shift in our policy. We had been clear, and we’ve been consistent in our support for a cease-fire as part of a hostage deal.”
“We wanted to get to a place where we could support that resolution,” Kirby added. “But because the final text does not have key language that we think is essential, like a condemnation of Hamas, we could not support it.”
Monday’s measure, the first formal demand by the UN for a stop to the fighting, calls for a cease-fire to last through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends April 9, as well as the unconditional release of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 terror attack by Hamas against southern Israel — though it does not make the cease-fire conditional on freeing the hostages.
As one of five permanent members of the Security Council — along with China, France, Great Britain, and Russia — the US could have blocked the resolution by simply voting against it. The Biden administration previously vetoed three cease-fire resolutions, in large part because of the failure to tie a pause in fighting directly to the release of hostages.
On Friday, Russia and China voted down a US-sponsored resolution that would have supported “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” and watered down conditions involving the release of hostages.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a staunch and vocal supporter of Israel, slammed the Biden administration for abstaining from the resolution vote, writing on X: “It’s appalling the US allowed passage of a resolution that fails to condemn Hamas. The UN has always been unwilling to condemn this group of terrorists, cowards and rapists.
“We must stand with Israel and stop pandering to the political fringe or Hamas apologists,” Fetterman pointedly added.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), called the resolution passage “a capitulation to and victory for Hamas.
“It reverses what the Biden administration says was its policy linking a cease-fire to the release of hostages, even while Hamas is still holding hostages, including American hostages,” Cruz said. “It does acknowledge, let alone condemn, the atrocities of October 7, the worst one-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust … Today’s abstention will have devastating costs to American national security and the US-Israel relationship.”
Netanyahu, 74, had demanded the US veto the cease-fire resolution or he would refuse to send Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to discuss plans for a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Following Monday’s announcement, Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz called on the PM to reverse his decision, writing on X that Israel “has a moral obligation to continue fighting until the abductees are returned and the threat of Hamas is removed and that is what we will do.
“The Security Council’s decision has no operational significance for us, and in any case, we will continue to listen to our friendships, and we will always do what is right for Israel’s security,” Gantz said. “At the same time, it is important to remember – the special relationship between Israel and the United States is an anchor in Israel’s security and foreign relations, and the direct dialogue with the American administration is an essential asset that must not be given up even when there are challenges and disputes.”
“Not only is it right for the delegation to travel – the prime minister would do well if he himself traveled to the USA, and held a direct dialogue with President Biden and the senior administration officials,” Gantz went on. “This is true routinely, and it is certainly true now, when the weight of US support for Israel is so critical.”
Separately, Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington Monday and Tuesday for meetings with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, as well as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The meetings were not originally intended to address the Rafah debate, Kirby said, but the officials will now touch on the subject with Gallant now that the other delegation has been scrapped.
“Now clearly Rafah will come up in the meetings with Defense Minister Gallant, I have no doubt about that,” the US official promised. “Those meetings were long-scheduled, and were considered separate and distinct from what we were hoping to get done with the Israeli delegation.”
“We’ll have ample opportunities to talk with him about what’s going on with their planning for Rafah, as well as what’s going on inside negotiations to get all the hostages out,” he added.
Austin plans to discuss “potential alternatives as it relates to any type of addressing of Hamas and the issue of Hamas in that area,” Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
“We think that a ground invasion – especially without any type of credible plan – is a mistake, given the large number of displaced people,” Ryder added. “There are ways to go about addressing the threat of Hamas while also taking into account civilian safety.”
