Achi news desk-
The United States has significantly changed its position on Gaza by presenting a UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate and lasting ceasefire”, linked to the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
It is the first time the US has backed calls for an immediate ceasefire, and signals a further chill in its relationship with Israel. He has previously vetoed three attempts at the United Nations to vote for a ceasefire.
Although the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was in Israel before the vote, which was blocked by Russia, China and Algeria, the rift between US and Israeli positions seems to be growing. Speaking during Blinken’s visit, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I hope we will do it with the support of the United States, but if we have to, we will do it alone.”
The United States has increased its pressure on Israel in recent weeks, with President Joe Biden outlining plans to send aid to Gaza in his recent annual State of the Union address.
He said in the speech that Israel had a “fundamental responsibility to protect innocent victims in Gaza” and repeated his call for a six-week ceasefire. He also announced that the United States would build a temporary pier in Gaza to receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.
The United States has historically been one of Israel’s closest allies, something that has been put to the test with Israel’s conflict in Gaza. As a humanitarian crisis develops, Biden, under increasing pressure from various voting blocs in the United States, has made important rhetorical changes in his language about Israel and the war in Gaza.
Only 20% of US voters under the age of 30 approve of Biden’s handling of the conflict based on polling from December. Support for Biden from Arab Americans fell to just 17% based on polls taken at the start of the conflict, a drop from 42%.
Public opinion in the United States has certainly shifted on the matter. Half of Americans, according to an Associated Press poll in February, think Israel has gone too far in handling the conflict.
A Pew Research poll from March showed that the United States is evenly split on sending military aid to Israel, with only 36% of Americans supporting this compared to 34% who are opposed. Half of those polled also support providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
This marks a remarkable change in public opinion in the United States. Israel has been one of the largest recipients of US aid, receiving around US$300 billion (£238 billion) adjusted for inflation since its independence.
The partnership between the United States and Israel was initially mutually beneficial. During the cold war, Israel’s help in uncovering Soviet capabilities was so useful that retired US Air Force intelligence chief George Keegan noted that it was the equivalent of having five CIAs.
When the Arab states appeared to have become closer to the Soviet Union, the United States adopted a policy of ensuring that Israel had a qualitative military edge (the ability to defend itself against credible military threats). This led to decades of arms sales under Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.
The need to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge was even enshrined in US law in 2008. It means that the US cannot provide weapons to any other country in the Middle East that would jeopardize Israel’s advantage .
With the help of the United States, Israel emerged with one of the most sophisticated military and intelligence units in the world.
US veto power
Historically, the United States has used its veto power in the United Nations to veto 45 resolutions (out of 89 security council resolution vetoes) that were critical of Israel – more than any other member of the safety advice). Thirty-three of these vetted resolutions related to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Even under the administration of Barack Obama, who had a very bad relationship with Netanyahu, US support remained unwavering. Although Obama prioritized visiting Cairo instead of Tel Aviv, and promised a “new beginning” to the Muslim world, he oversaw Israel’s largest military package to Israel, worth US$38 billion over a decade.
White House/Zuma/Alamy
But things have changed since Israel became more authoritarian under Netanyahu’s leadership, most notably in the last few years. Netanyahu has been trying to personify power into his own hands, undercutting the judiciary and filling the state with loyalists, all while fighting corruption charges.
Hamas’s brazen and brazen attack on October 7 may have been made more possible by failures in Israeli intelligence.
Although the United States understood that Israel would have to respond in some way after over 200 Israeli civilians were taken hostage, the humanitarian crisis and deaths of over 30,000 civilians that have resulted from the attack military on Gaza has caused the Biden administration to change tack. Most recently Biden has said that Israel’s actions are “over the top”.
And it is not only Biden who has been blamed for Israel’s approach to Gaza. Other high level members of the government have voiced their concerns. Most notably, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, the senior-most Jewish member of Congress, publicly rebuked Israel’s leadership marking a significant turn in US foreign policy.
Continuing to aid Israel poses a dilemma as US foreign aid is legally conditional on the receiving state not committing serious human rights violations. The Biden administration announced in February last year that it would not arm states that violated this principle.
But this kind of large-scale cancellation of US aid is unlikely to happen. This would require the US Congress and the president to agree to block the sale of military aid through a joint resolution.
For now, the UN resolution by the Biden administration marks a remarkable change in US policy, and shows the incredible strain of the “special relationship”.
