The UN Security Council calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The USA did not vote – but Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu canceled a trip to Washington. His critics consider this to be “madness.”
Israel’s government is sticking to its course after the UN vote in the Security Council: Washington made a mistake by abstaining from the UN’s highest body. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “clear departure” from Washington’s position in the Security Council since the start of the war.
Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz wrote on the short message service X: They will not stop firing. He added: “We will destroy Hamas and continue fighting until the last hostage returns home.”
Minister Benny Gantz, who is part of the so-called war cabinet, said the UN vote had no operational significance for Israel. The Israeli armed forces announced this morning that the air force had attacked over 60 targets in the Gaza Strip. Among other things, tunnels and buildings in which armed people were found were destroyed. According to the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz, rescue workers in Rafah reported that an airstrike had hit a residential building in which three families were staying. 18 people were killed, including nine children.
Outrage over Hamas demands
The Israeli government’s criticism of the USA’s abstention from the Security Council continues: Hamas’ stance has been strengthened, said Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan on Israeli radio. You can see what has happened since the vote: “Hamas fired rockets at the cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon and rejected the compromises on the present deal.” Hamas even welcomes this vote. He hoped that the USA would understand “that they could have made a mistake.”
Israel’s UN ambassador was referring to the terrorist organization Hamas’ announcement that it would stick to its demands for the release of hostages. This includes, among other things, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. Netanyahu called Hamas’ demands “delusional” this morning.
Baerbock demands: “No more excuses”
Yesterday there was rocket fire from the Gaza Strip on the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon for the first time in two months. Before his meeting with Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock this morning, Foreign Minister Katz said that the USA’s abstention from the Security Council had made the release of the hostages more difficult.
During her two-day Middle East trip, Baerbock repeatedly spoke out in favor of significantly more aid deliveries to the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip and in favor of the release of the Israeli hostages from the hands of Hamas. Late on Monday evening, after a conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, she highlighted these two points: “At the moment there can be no more excuses. The people of Gaza urgently need every liter of water. And the families in Israel urgently need their beloved family members back .”
Israel’s government announced that it would withdraw its negotiators from Doha, from where mediation efforts by the USA, Egypt and Qatar to secure the release of the Israeli hostages had recently taken place.
Criticism of Netanyahu’s harsh reaction
Israel’s media is criticizing Netanyahu after the prime minister’s harsh reaction to Washington’s abstention from the Security Council. “Alliance in crisis” and “A public rift” were the headlines in the major daily newspapers “Yedioth Achronoth” and “Ma’ariv”.
Netanyahu’s decision was “madness” to stop the previously announced trip of a government delegation to Washington that was supposed to talk to the US government about further warfare, says Ma’ariv. He artificially created a public crisis with the US government – for domestic political reasons. In doing so, the prime minister wanted to distract from a bill that is deeply dividing Israel’s society: To date, the cabinet has to present an amendment to the conscription law, which is apparently intended to grant massive benefits to the religious-Orthodox population at the expense of the secular population.
Experienced ex-generals like former military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin don’t think much of the prime minister’s public snub of Washington. The UN Security Council’s decision is not binding and is not a call to end the war, but rather a call for a ceasefire until the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. “If I were prime minister,” Yadlin said on Israel’s Channel 12 television, “I would have welcomed the UN decision calling for the unconditional release of the hostages.”
Instead, Netanyahu said no. “We are already like the Palestinians. We say no to everything.” Rather, Israel must accept this UN decision. Because with Joe Biden there is a US president “who is the last person in the world to support us”.