Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled his trip to Washington, D.C. after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The United States chose to abstain from the vote, heightening tensions between the country and Israel, as reported by CNN. The United States maintained it did not vote because it “did not agree with everything” in the resolution.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “We’re very disappointed that they will not be coming to Washington, DC, to allow us to have a fulsome conversation with them about viable alternatives to going in on the ground in Rafah,” per CNN.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller added that the cancelation was “surprising and unfortunate.”
Netanyahu did not contact President Joe Biden about the decision to cancel the trip, and the president had made no plans to contact Netanyahu to discuss this decision, per a U.S. official’s account to CNN.
Previously, the United States vetoed similar resolutions calling for a ceasefire. However, officials seemingly signaled a foreign policy shift when the United States proposed a resolution calling for a ceasefire conditioned on the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization Hamas. Russia and China struck down this particular resolution.
“A ceasefire could have come about months ago if Hamas had been willing to release hostages,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, reported CNN.
“Any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages,” she added.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it would be “unforgivable” if the resolution were not implemented.
“The Security Council just approved a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable,” Guterres posted on X.
Israeli officials criticized the resolution. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said that the resolution was made “without conditioning it on the release of the hostages,” per CNN.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X that a “humanitarian ceasefire cannot be upheld without including the release of Israeli hostages. We must continue to work together to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
