The United Nations Security Council passed a Gaza 'ceasefire' resolution today, an action that was only achievable because the Biden administration declined to use its veto power to block it -- despite Israel's clear public stance against the measure. The White House will hide behind the reasoning that the item demands a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, while also calling for the unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas. That may appear reasonable at first blush, but the resolution separates the two issues, rather than making the hostage release a prerequisite for the insisted-upon ceasefire. It should go without saying that the baby-decapitators and serial rapists of Hamas, who brutally slaughtered 1,200 civilians in October, do not comply with the 'International community's directives (or, more accurately, strongly-worded suggestions).
Israel, as a UN member state that is relentlessly and wildly disproportionately targeted by condemnations within the anti-Semitic body, has the prerogative to ignore toothless declarations like this. But because the Israelis have no choice but to care about global opinion, the prospect of being pilloried for violating a UN Security Council resolution would hand their fanatical critics a talking point with which to pummel them, this time with a veneer of quasi-legitimacy. Indeed, the UN chief said Israel's failure to abide by it would be "unforgivable." Hamas will always be forgiven. The Jews, who stubbornly refuse to be killed by them? Not so much. This is what the UN is all about, and it's why Israel made more than clear that they strongly opposed the deck-stacking measure aimed squarely at them:
Dermer and Hanegbi's trip to Washington came after Biden asked Netanyahu on the phone last week to send a delegation to discuss alternatives to a major IDF operation in Rafah.
— Lahav Harkov 🎗️ (@LahavHarkov) March 25, 2024
Strip it all down to two major problems:
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) March 25, 2024
No mention of October 7. It pretends we arrived today to find suffering in Gaza and Israel is the problem.
It demands a ceasefire without getting hostages released first. Recall that Israel is a UN member state; Hamas is not.
Team Biden, whose urgent priority seems to be pandering to anti-Israel leftist and Islamist voters in electorally-relevant pockets, decided not to stand in the way of the resolution's passage. They facilitated this Israel-isolating move, knowing that Israel was adamantly against it, while leaning hard on Israel not to finish off Hamas. Think about that. China and Russia vetoed a fairly similar push last week, led by the US, which directly tied the temporary ceasefire with freeing the hostages (a formulation to which Israel did not object, as the previous version also named October 7th as the impetus for this conflict, and condemned both Hamas and the Houthis). The new version, which was passed unanimously with Biden's abstention, formalizes a global demand for the pro-Hamas ceasefire, while effectively and separately saying that it sure would be nice if the terrorists would also release the civilian hostages they kidnapped months ago.
In other words, it was appreciably worse, yet Biden permitted it to sail through. In a further deterioration of the US-Israeli relationship, the Jewish state's government has followed through on its warning, pulling back one of its planned (and specifically Biden-requested) delegation to America, which was set to discuss potential alternatives to a military offensive in Rafah:
A big development https://t.co/TNkgmaxqKK
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 25, 2024
Biden *requested* this delegation, to further pressure Israel not to finish off Hamas in Rafah. Israel made clear this UN ‘ceasefire’ resolution was unacceptable, but Biden let it pass anyway, with an abstention. Now the Biden-requested delegation is canceled. What leadership. https://t.co/SgPh6DaZQx
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 25, 2024
It's important to also point out that the US has already pressured Israel into accepting a lopsided hostages-for-terrorists swap with Hamas, which the terrorist organization may or may not accept. Under the agreement, Israel would get an unknown number of living hostages back (Hamas refuses to provide a complete list), in exchange for freeing hundreds of Palestinian convicted criminals, murderers and terrorists. "The prisoners agreed upon for release by Israel reportedly include hundreds who are serving life sentences for murdering Israelis in terror attacks," the Jerusalem Post reports. The Biden administration could easily have cited this still-under-discussion, lopsided pact as a reason to veto the Israel-opposed UN 'ceasefire' resolution, arguing that it would undermine an active negotiation process. Instead, they stuck a finger in Israel's eye at Turtle Bay, and will still try to force Jerusalem to both stand down in Rafah and open its prisons as part of a perverse terrorists-for-hostages agreement. Hope those votes in Michigan are worth it, Joe. I'll leave you with this vile lie, which has no doubt spread like wildfire among the voters Biden is aggressively courting:
After more than 24 hours of letting the story run freely, Qatari mouthpiece Al Jazeera deleted the page featuring their former story, which accused Israeli soldiers of allegedly perpetrating rape against women at Al- Shifa.
— Ari Ingel (@OGAride) March 25, 2024
Yasser Al-Zaatreh, a Palestinian Jordanian journalist,… pic.twitter.com/oAIjCvLFtX
It's interesting how this story about Israeli soldiers raping civilians at the Shifa Hospital has unravelled so publicly, but yet again the most interesting thing is seeing how journalists and outlets handled it - because it was self-evidently fabricated from the get-go. https://t.co/vQI9khkOKv
— Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) March 25, 2024
Senior State Department officials are intentionally amplifying outrageous Hamas and Al Jazeera lies. Calls into question everything you see leaked by a “senior official.” pic.twitter.com/lMhcr9LHCS
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) March 25, 2024
It's hard enough out there for Israel as it is; it's disgraceful to see the United States government making it even harder.
UPDATE - The spin doesn't get much more pathetic or feeble than this:
“We could not support it” … but they let it pass, despite the power to stop it, fully aware of Israel’s objections. Pathetic. https://t.co/mnFNsxj32X
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 25, 2024
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