The United States failed to veto a measure calling for a ceasefire in the current conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. The administration attempted to justify the abstention in the vote by stating that it did not specifically mention Hamas with the non-vote leading the Israeli government to pull a diplomatic delegation to the United States.
The United States abstained from the measure calling for a ceasefire in the conflict, which was passed with 14 yes votes in the United Nations Security Council. As a permanent member of the Security Council, the United States had the ability to veto the measure.
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said this week that the lack of a veto occurred because Hamas was not mentioned and that the resolution “reflected, broadly, our policy, which has not changed, about linking the hostage release to a ceasefire.”
The vote on the resolution had an immediate effect regarding the relations between Israel and the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his nation would not send a planned delegation to Washington to negotiate the current situation in the Middle East. The diplomats were set to discuss the upcoming attack on the last Hamas stronghold of Rafah.
This occurred despite President Joe Biden calling an attack on the city a potential “red line.”
Despite the president’s statement, Netanyahu previously stated that Israel would seize the city at a time of its choosing in order to destroy Hamas’ hold over the Gaza Strip.
The State of Israel will continue to fight until the safe return of the hostages and the eradication of Hamas. Any proposal for a ceasefire lacking these stipulations serves as a propellant for terrorist organizations around the world, inevitably ushering terrorism into the West
— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) March 25, 2024
Last week Israel eliminated one of the top leaders of Hamas and killed or captured about 1,000 terrorists operating out of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. The deceased Hamas leader, Marwan Issa, was one of the architects of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed 1,200 civilians and was ranked as number three in the terrorist organization.
“The US did not veto today the new text that calls for a ceasefire without the condition of releasing the abductees,” said Netanyahu’s office. “This is a clear withdrawal from the US’s consistent position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war.”
