A Gaza Breakthrough at the United Nations
We just saw a huge shift from the Biden administration
Since the very first meeting of the United Nations Security Council following the Hamas attacks and Israeli reprisals, the Biden administration has been allergic to including the word “ceasefire” in Security Council texts. If other Security Council members proposed a ceasefire, the United States would shoot it down with its veto. “Humanitarian Pauses” and “Humanitarian Truces” were permissible. But not the word “ceasefire.” Indeed, on Tuesday, the United States cast a loan veto blocking an Algeria-drafted text that called for an immediate ceasefire.
But this is all changing— and very suddenly.
Around the same time it cast that veto, the United States Mission to the United Nations circulated a draft Security Council resolution that goes much further in restraining Israeli actions than anything the Biden administration has supported at the UN to date. The resolution drafted by the United States not only invokes the word “ceasefire,” but explicitly opposes Israel’s anticipated assault on Rafah, the city in southern Gaza to which 1.5 million Gazans are displaced.
Journalist Rami Ayari obtained a copy of the draft resolution that the United States circulated to the other 14 members of the Security Council for input. The third operative paragraph rejects a military offensive in Rafah, vowed by the Israelis:
[The Security Council] Determines that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement, including potentially into neighboring countries which would have serious implications for regional peace and security and therefore underscores that such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances.
This is a sea change in the Biden administration’s diplomacy on this issue. For months, there’s been a steady trickle of leaks from the Biden administration about how frustrated the President is with Israel’s conduct of the war. But to date, there’s been little done to back up those complaints with meaningful action.
This resolution signals the most significant — and consequential — public attempt by the United States to constrain Israeli actions in Gaza since October 7. To be sure, senior administration officials —including Biden himself — have recently cautioned Israel against a Rafah offensive without plans in place to protect civilians. But by enshrining this position in the text of a Security Council resolution, the administration is drawing a line in the sand that Israel best not cross. Doing so would be tantamount to contravening the expressed will of Israel’s most powerful backer.
The timing of the release of this text is also highly significant.
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