Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public demand for the United States to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution was “surprising and unfortunate,” according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team.
“We don’t make threats to them,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday. “We don’t expect them to make threats to us.”
Netanyahu canceled an Israeli delegation’s trip to Washington after President Joe Biden’s administration abstained from a vote on a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the war against Hamas. Netanyahu’s office characterized the abstention as a land-mark shift in U.S. policy that would redound to the advantage of Hamas.
“Just a few days ago, [the United States] supported a Security Council resolution that linked a call for a ceasefire to the release of hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said Monday. “Regrettably, the United States did not veto the new resolution, which calls for a ceasefire that is not contingent on the release of hostages. … Today’s resolution gives Hamas hope that international pressure will force Israel to accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages, thus harming both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages.”
Blinken’s team rejected that assessment on the grounds that the resolution “called[ed] for both the ceasefire and the release of hostages.” Miller argued that it is a symbolic gesture that would not constrain Israel’s actions or interfere with the slow-moving negotiations that CIA Director Bill Burns is trying to orchestrate in coordination with Qatar and Egypt.
“The resolution today is a non-binding resolution,” Miller said. “Ultimately, if we are able to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages, it’s going to come not through a U.N. process but through the process with which we’ve been engaged … in Doha.”
Netanyahu warned the Biden team of diplomatic consequences for a failure to veto the resolution.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear last night that should the U.S. depart from its principled policy and not veto this harmful resolution, he will cancel the Israeli delegation’s visit to the United States,” his office said. “In light of the change in the U.S. position, PM Netanyahu decided that the delegation will remain in Israel.”
The canceled meeting had been scheduled “out of respect” for Biden, as a top Netanyahu adviser put it last week. U.S. officials hoped to use the meeting to dissuade Israel from launching “a major ground operation” against Hamas in Rafah, a city crowded with Palestinian civilians who fled the fighting further north.
“We talk to the government of Israel every day at different levels,” Miller said. “Our ambassador is in and out of the Israeli government all the time talking about things that they want from us and oftentimes presenting things that we want them to do. And I do expect that those conversations will continue on multiple levels between our government and theirs about multiple topics, including a potential invasion of Rafah.”
Case in point: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant began a round of meetings in Washington on Monday, even as Netanyahu put a spotlight on his refusal to send Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi on their visit. Gallant, for his part, signaled Israel’s determination to attack Hamas in Rafah.
“We will act against Hamas everywhere, even in areas where we have not been yet,” Gallant said in a video recorded in front of the White House. “We have no moral right to stop the war in Gaza until we return all the hostages to their homes. If we don’t reach a clear and absolute victory in Gaza, it could bring a war in the north closer.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he was “pleased to welcome” Gallant for the conversation.
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Blinken told Netanyahu last week that Israel can defeat Hamas without a large-scale operation in Rafah. U.S. officials intended to discuss an alternative plan to target Hamas during the meetings with Hanegbi and Dermer.
“We think there’s a better way to do it that would accomplish … what is a very legitimate national security goal of Israel’s, which is to defeat the Hamas battalions that remain in Rafah,” Miller said. “So we will continue to make that case to them. I expect that we will have other ways to do so over the coming days, but I would not want to make any predictions about what will come after that.”