Avi Ohayon / Government Press Office of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons ; Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

The Biden administration is “perplexed” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to cancel a high-level delegation’s planned visit to Washington after the U.S. chose not to veto a U.N. Security Council vote demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, according to White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

The resolution, which was passed 14-0 on Monday, called for an immediate ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It also demanded the release of all hostages taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, but did not link that demand to the ceasefire call. 

The United States has vetoed three resolutions calling for a Gaza ceasefire. However, on Monday, the U.S. abstained from voting rather than using its veto power.

Kirby noted several things in connection to the resolution, primarily that it is “nonbinding,” meaning that there will be no impact on Israel nor its ongoing war with Hamas, and that the abstention did not represent a change in U.S. policy, despite several statements from Netanyahu’s office. 

“We get to decide what our policy is. It seems like the Prime Minister’s office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that,” Kirby said.  

After the vote, Netanyahu’s office posted on X, “The United States has abandoned its policy in the UN today. 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,” it continued. “Regrettably, the United States did not veto the new resolution, which calls for a ceasefire that is not contingent on the release of hostages. This constitutes a clear departure from the consistent US 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,” it continued, before confirming that the delegation’s trip to the U.S. would be canceled. 

Kirby defended that abstention because this resolution did not condemn Hamas, but was still closer to U.S. policy than previous resolutions. 

“We didn’t veto [Monday’s resolution] because, in general, unlike previous resolutions, this one did fairly capture what has been our consistent policy, which is linking a hostage deal and the release of those men and women with a temporary ceasefire,” Kirby said. 

Monday’s resolution demands the release of hostages but does not make it a condition for the cease-fire for the month of Ramadan, which ends in April. Hamas welcomed the U.N.’s move but said the cease-fire needed to be permanent. 

Israeli Energy Minister said Israel “will continue to fight until the safe return of the hostages and the eradication of Hamas.” 

“Any proposal for a ceasefire lacking these stipulations serves as a propellant for terrorist organizations around the world, inevitably ushering terrorism into the West,” he said. 

Anne Bayefsky, Director of the Touro’s Institute of Human Rights and the Holocaust, said the Biden administration’s “failure to veto this resolution should send shock waves around the United States.” 

“Last week they “demanded” the UN Security Council finally condemn Hamas for the October 7th atrocities – which the Council has never done. The Arab group of states, the Russians and Chinese said no. Two days later the moral backbone of the administration collapses and it allows the third Council resolution since October 7th that fails to condemn its perpetrators,” Bayefsky said.

She argued that U.S. “strength and credibility has taken a tremendous hit – to the detriment of Israel and the Jewish people of America.”