For the first time since the Gaza war broke out after the Hamas attacks of October 7, the United Nations has approved a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory. It is a decision of considerable political weight because to date the Security Council had seen four similar initiatives vetoed by the United States.
On this occasion, Washington has abstained in what means putting in black and white the growing differences between the US Government of Joe Biden and the Israel of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The resolution calls for cessation of hostilities and the release of the hostages what Hamas has been in its possession since October 7, and that Israel numbers 254. It has been proposed by the 10 non-permanent members of the Council, and supported by four of the permanent –Great Britain, France, China and Russia– with the abstention of USA. He arrives at a critical time in the war, with the Israeli Armed Forcesabout to enter the city of Rafah in the middle of the month of Ramadan, a particularly sensitive period for Muslims.
The United States has repeatedly insisted Israel not attack Rafah. Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – himself a Jew – declared in Israel that an attack on Rafah “risks isolating Israel in the world and endangering its security in the long term.”
Disagreements between Tel Aviv and Washington about the war have occurred almost from the beginning. The Biden Administration would have preferred a more selective offensive instead of the total war campaign that Israel has launched, and which to date has given very poor military results. Hamas remains active, most of its terrorist infrastructure network is intact and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has damaged Israel’s image.
If on October 7 some 1,200 Israelis – two thirds of them civilians – died in the attacks and another 400 were kidnapped, the Israeli offensive has caused 32,000 Palestinian deaths, of which more than 20,000 are civilians. Gaza faces widespread famine, caused in part by Israel’s decision to limit shipments of food and humanitarian aid, and by the proliferation of armed gangs in the north of the region that fill the power vacuum left by Hamas.
Despite these warnings, The US has not suspended its military aid to Israel at any time. Quite the contrary: it has increased it. That threatens Joe Biden’s re-election chances, as it limits his popularity among young people and the Arab American minority, whose votes he needs to win in the November 5 elections.
The Republican Party, for its part, fully defends the position of Netanyahu, who is a personal friend of the family of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the former president and presidential candidate, Donald Trump. Biden’s rival has urged Tel Aviv to “finish the job” in Gaza.
Netanyahu criticizes the EEUU
“The United States has retracted its constant position in the Security Council, where just a few days ago it linked a ceasefire with the release of the hostages (article 1),” he reacted Netanyahu ensuring that he did not exercise the right of veto in “the new text of the resolution that calls for a ceasefire without the condition of releasing the kidnapped people,” according to reports Sal Emergui from Jerusalemn.
In a sign of protest, the Israeli prime minister announced that will not send the delegation that was scheduled to leave this Monday for Washington to discuss a possible military offensive in Rafah, as requested by US President Joe Biden.
“This setback (in the US position) harms both the war effort and the effort to free the hostages because it gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a ceasefire without their release,” Netanyahu added in the moment of greatest distancing with the Biden Administration since the start of the war almost six months ago.
Several leaders in the Government and in the opposition in Israel showed their support for continuing the offensive “until we finish off Hamas and free the kidnapped people,” but they harshly criticized Netanyahu for canceling the delegation to the United States and raising tension with Hamas’s main ally. Israel.