Netanyahu Scraps White House Meeting Following Biden White House UN Resolution Debacle
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a meeting between his advisers and White House officials on Monday after the Biden administration let an anti-Israel resolution pass at the United Nations Security Council.
The U.S. abstained on UNSC Resolution 2728, which it could have vetoed by voting against it. The resolution calls for an “immediate ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas for the last two weeks of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. However, it does not condemn Hamas for its October 7 terror attack — something the United Nations has yet to do — and does not condition a ceasefire on the release of the remaining 134 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
The U.S. had previously sought to make a ceasefire conditional on the release of hostages. Demanding a ceasefire before the release of hostages effectively allows Hamas to survive — and to win the war — while keeping its captives.
Last week, the White House demanded that Israel send representatives to Washington to consult about Israel’s plans to enter Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, to attack Hamas’s last stronghold there. Netanyahu responded by naming his strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, and his national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, to attend talks this week — though he stressed that Israel would still attack Hamas in Rafah, regardless. (Read more from “Netanyahu Scraps White House Meeting Following Biden White House UN Resolution Debacle” HERE)
