Reaction to UN vote
Netanyahu cancels delegation’s trip to the USA
March 25, 2024, 5:21 p.m
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For the first time, the UN Security Council passes a resolution on the Gaza war. It calls for an “immediate ceasefire”. With its abstention, the USA made the decision possible, which is unpleasant for the Israeli government. A reaction from Jerusalem follows immediately.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled the planned trip of an Israeli delegation to the USA. This was announced by the office of the head of government in Jerusalem. It is a reaction to the US abstention from a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for the first time.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and national security adviser Zachi Hanegbi were scheduled to fly to the United States on Monday to meet with senior government officials. They wanted to present the Israeli guests with alternatives to a ground offensive planned by Israel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which was rejected by the USA and other allies. Another topic of the talks would have been Washington’s proposals for expanding humanitarian aid for the suffering population in the Gaza Strip.
The powerful UN body had called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip for the first time. It also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by the Islamist Hamas. The United States, the veto power, abstained from the vote, thereby enabling the resolution to be adopted. The 14 remaining members of the committee voted in favor.
The cancellation of the trip to the USA by Dermer and Hanegbi, two of the head of government’s confidants, marks another low point in Israel’s relationship with its most important ally. Relations with the US are strained because Washington increasingly disagrees with Israel’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip. The point of contention is, among other things, humanitarian aid for the civilian population, which the USA and international organizations believe is inadequate.
The spokesman for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, was disappointed by the cancellation of the trip by the Israeli government representatives. But that doesn’t mean “that we no longer have the opportunity to talk to them and have conversations,” he added. The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip.