(New York Post) President Biden cleared the way Monday for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding Israel suspend its counterterrorism operations in Gaza without conditioning any cease-fire on the release of Israeli hostages.
Combined with a pressure campaign to deter Israel from dismantling Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza, Biden’s signal to the terror group is clear: Keep terrorizing and holding hostages because America is pressing Israel to stop the war.
The United States is a permanent Security Council member and, as such, can veto any resolution with which it disagrees.
China and Russia used their own veto powers Friday to block an American-proposed resolution that condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization along with the Oct. 7 massacre, denounced Houthi attacks on the Red Sea and endorsed a temporary cease-fire in Gaza “in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.”
Beijing and Moscow didn’t care that the Biden administration’s proposed resolution was already hostile toward Israel — opposing military action in Rafah, where hostages are being held and Hamas is preparing to make its last stand.
Neither could tolerate a resolution that condemned a terror proxy of Iran, and nothing short of a pathway to Hamas survival would ever win their support.
Rather than waging political warfare on China and Russia for defending Hamas — with an understanding that the Security Council is a venue to undermine our enemies on the world stage, not a place to compromise core American values just for the sake of winning Chinese and Russian votes — the Biden administration internalized a misguided self-perception of US isolation.
And its desperation to pressure Israel into a cease-fire grew stronger.
Over the weekend, with Hamas refusing to compromise in hostage negotiations, America pressed Israel to make more concessions — increasing the number of convicted Palestinian terrorists Jerusalem would be willing to trade for every Israeli hostage Hamas released during a six-week cease-fire.
Coming into Monday’s Security Council meeting, Hamas had not responded to Israel’s latest offer.
Against the backdrop of a hostage negotiation in which Hamas remains maximalist in demands and the arrival of Israel’s defense minister in Washington to meet with senior White House officials, the United States needed to veto any Security Council resolution that could further embolden the terrorist group.
Biden chose a different path: abstaining on a resolution that decoupled a demand for a cease-fire from a demand for the release of hostages, thus severely undercutting Israel at the hostage-negotiating table.
The resolution had other severe flaws that demanded a US veto.
It made no mention of Oct. 7 or Hamas, let alone note Hamas is a terrorist organization, as if the world woke up one day in a vacuum outraged to find Israel at war in Gaza and Palestinian civilians in distress.
