Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a scheduled trip to Washington D.C. on Monday following the approval of an anti-Israel United Nations Security Council resolution that demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.
The resolution purposefully excluded the need for a ceasefire agreement to include the release of Israeli hostages. The United States neglected to use its veto power to block the resolution, which was backed by Russia and China, a move Netanyahu underscored represents an abandoning of support.
“The United States has abandoned its policy in the U.N. today,” the Prime Minister said in a statement. “Just a few days ago, it supported a Security Council resolution that linked a call for a ceasefire to the release of hostages. China and Russia vetoed that resolution partly because they opposed a ceasefire that was linked to the release of hostages. Yet today, Russia and China joined Algeria and others in supporting the new resolution precisely because it had no such linkage.”
“Regrettably, the United States did not veto the new resolution, which calls for a ceasefire that is not contingent on the release of hostages,” Netanyahu continued. “This constitutes a clear departure from the consistent U.S. position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war.”
“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,” he warned.
The Prime Minister’s X account added that because the United States refused to veto the “harmful resolution, he will cancel the Israeli delegation’s visit to the United States.”
Additionally, Resolution 2728 perpetuated the false narratives against Israel that the country is deliberately showing disregard for Gazan civilians in its operations inside the strip and withholding aid to those in need.
U.N. Secretary António Guterres last week was lambasted by Israel for similar false claims when he insisted that Israel was using “collective punishment” on civilians in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded by highlighting the fact that “Under his leadership, the U.N. has become an antisemitic and anti-Israeli body that shelters and emboldens terror.”
The United States has also been applying pressure on Israel to avoid expanding its Gaza operation into the last Hamas stronghold in Rafah. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday warned that the United States is not “ruling out” consequences if Israel chooses to enter the city.
According to U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, Israel’s scheduled meeting in Washington was reportedly set to surround “viable alternatives to going in on the ground in Rafah.”
In response to Netanyahu’s cancelation, Kirby downplayed the significance of the U.N. resolution, saying that because it is “non-binding,” it does not represent a shift in U.S. support—a claim which Israel strongly disagrees.
Responding to this sequence of events, California Pastor Jack Hibbs voiced his disapproval of the Biden administration’s actions.
“Israel absolutely made the right decision by ditching the invitation to the circus at the White House,” he wrote. “The United States is flirting with its own peril as it plays games with Israel during her time of war.”
While the United States has moved sharply away from the Biblical values it was founded upon, it has also disregarded the Biblical warning which explains that God’s hand of blessing is predicated on how nations treat Israel and the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3).
It was this very understanding that prompted former U.S. President Harry Truman to go against the wishes of his administration by recognizing the State of Israel on May 14th, 1948, a mere eleven minutes after the Jewish State’s re-establishment.
Author Hal Lindsey explained that Truman’s decision “began an extraordinary relationship between the United States and Israel.”
“Not coincidentally, the US then entered an era of prosperity unprecedented in world history,” Lindsey continued. “When God first told Abraham about the land, He also said in Genesis 12:3, ‘I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’“
Despite the comments of the National Security Council spokesman, the Biden Administration’s constant pressure on Israel to slow down its campaign against Hamas terrorists and its advocating for a dangerous two-state solution indeed constitute a shift in support for Israel. As Pastor Hibbs noted, these actions are to the United States’ own peril, as they place themselves at odds with the One “who keeps Israel” (Psalm 121:4).
