The US vetoed a United Nations resolution that would have demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but instead offered a separate resolution that would call for a ceasefire “as soon as practicable” enforceable’ and which would impose a condition on the release of hostages.
The new resolution confused Republicans in Congress, with Florida Republican Party Representative Cory Mills accusing President Biden of “crouching” before progressives.
“Imagine if our allies asked for a ceasefire while our military was fighting Al Qaeda/Taliban. This is what Biden is demanding from Israel in a ceasefire against the Iranian terror group Hamas.”
Kites are flown over Rafah as smoke rises after the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 20, 2024
The new resolution left Republicans in Congress confused, with Florida Republican Rep. Cory Mills accusing President Biden of “cringing” to progressives
The US said the resolution proposed by Algerians demanding an immediate ceasefire would “jeopardize” talks to end the war.
Thirteen countries on the 15-member Security Council voted in favor of the resolution, the US voted ‘no’ and Britain abstained.
The US version of such a resolution does not specify a date for a ceasefire to take effect, demands the release of hostages and calls for obstacles to aid to Gaza to be lifted.
Washington has previously been averse to the word ceasefire in any UN action related to its ally Israel’s war against Hamas.
It is not clear whether the UN Security Council will vote on the US-led resolution.
The US draft resolution reflects language that President Joe Biden said he used last week in conversations with Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
Biden said at the time: “I feel very strongly that there has to be a temporary ceasefire to get the prisoners out, to get the hostages out.”
The proposed resolution also states that Israel’s planned major ground offensive against the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where some 1.5 million Palestinians have sought safety, “must not proceed under the current circumstances.”
It warns that further displacement of civilians, “including possibly to neighboring countries” such as Egypt, would have serious consequences for regional peace and security.
The US draft would also condemn calls by some Israeli ministers for Jewish settlers to move to Gaza.
UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Sunday that the US has been working for months on a hostage agreement that would bring at least six weeks of calm.
“Israel’s October 7 is the equivalent of America’s September 11,” Mills, a former defense contractor and freshman lawmaker, wrote on X.
Palestinians inspect the wreckage of destroyed buildings and area after an Israeli attack continues in Nusairat in the Gaza Strip on February 20, 2024
She said: ‘Then we can take the time and the steps to build a more lasting peace.’
The ambassador said Biden has had multiple calls with Netanyahu and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar over the past week to move the deal forward.
She said this is the best way to achieve a prolonged pause in the fighting so that aid can reach Palestinian civilians.
Over the weekend, Democrat Congressman Jim Clyburn, a close Biden ally, said the president did not believe Netanyahu’s leadership had been “good” for Israel.
Clyburn said, “I’ve talked to the president about this. And of course he won’t make public everything he says to Netanyahu.
“But I know this. He thinks about the way I feel when it comes to Netanyahu. He, his leadership, has not been good for Israel.”
A week ago, it emerged that Biden had personally called Netanyahu “an asshole” at least three times and called him the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Biden, meanwhile, has drawn criticism from the left flank for his unwillingness to take any meaningful action to push Israel to reduce civilian casualties.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, about 30,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children, have been killed in Israel’s campaign to eradicate Hamas in the past four months.
Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American Democrat, urged voters in her state not to vote for Biden in the February 28 primary.
‘Don’t make us even more invisible. Right now we feel completely neglected and simply unseen by our government,” Tlaib said in a video posted Saturday, instead urging Michiganders to vote “uncommitted” in the primaries.