US-Israel relation has reached an unprecedented stalemate due to their contradictory views over the war in Gaza.
Since the war in Gaza started back on October 7, Israel has been violently attacking Palestinian lands and killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. This brutal approach has sparked strong international criticism against the Netanyahu government. And now, even Israel’s most strategic and longstanding ally, the United States, is reconsidering its blind and unbounded support for Israel.
This Monday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during the month of Ramadan and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
The resolution was pivotal and different from previous resolutions as this time the United States only abstained rather than using its veto, letting the resolution be passed in the UNSC meeting.
Israeli officials condemned US for abstaining the resolution
On the same day when Washington indirectly showed a greenlight to the passing of the UNSC resolution by abstaining it, the US state department spokesman Matthew Miller, said that his country has no reason to dispute Israeli assurances that it was complying with humanitarian law in Gaza.
“We have not found them to be in violation of international humanitarian law, either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance,” Miller said.
But it was too late to try to win Israel’s heart after letting Tel Aviv down at the UNSC. A day later on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called off his senior advisor’s trip to Washington for talks on a possible invasion of Rafah, conveying that Tel Aviv can no longer trust Washington as a strategic ally because it had expected the US to exercise its veto on the resolution, which the US hadn’t.
“The United States has abandoned its policy in the UN today. Just a few days ago, it supported a Security Council resolution that linked a call for a ceasefire to the release of hostages,” Netanyahu’s office announced in a social media post on X Tuesday evening.
Israel’s criticism of the US didn’t confine to Netanyahu. Like him, Israel’s extreme far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rebuked the US for not using its veto at the UN Security Council to block a draft resolution.
“President Biden is not prioritizing Israel and the free world’s victory over terrorism, but rather his own political considerations. But no one can stop Israel, not even the US.” Ben-Gvir said on X.
He also blamed the UN, called it “anti-Semitic,” and threatened that Israel might cancel its membership in the international organization. “The United Nations is a wasteland. Our country is on its way to becoming a pariah state, and after the UN Security Council took a position against us, we must leave the UN immediately,” Ben-Gvir said.
Israeli is losing support among US people as well
In addition to losing support from the US government, Israel is also getting mpore and more unpopular among US citizens. According to a new poll carried out by Gallup, US popular support for Israel’s campaign of genocide in the Gaza Strip has dropped by 14 points since November 2023.
“Over half of US citizens now say they disapprove of the atrocities committed against Palestinians over the past six months,” the poll said. Conducted between 1 and 20 March, the Gallup opinion poll also revealed that only 36 percent of Americans say they approve of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, while 55 percent disapprove it.
