Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is canceling a delegation to the United States following a U.S. decision to abstain from a United Nations vote calling for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the move to halt in-person talks between the two allies was disappointing and that the vote did not reflect any change in U.S. policy, which has thus far insulated Israel from growing international condemnation.
“It’s disappointing,” Mr. Kirby told reporters on March 25.
“We’re very disappointed that they won’t be coming to Washington D.C. to allow us to have a fulsome conversation with them about viable alternatives to going in on the ground in Rafah.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to call off the delegation follows a vote of the U.N. Security Council calling for a two-week cease-fire in Gaza to allow for the exchange of hostages. Mr. Netanyahu wanted the United States to veto the bill. Instead, the abstention allowed it to pass.
However, the White House maintains that its policy has not changed and said it continues to support a temporary cease-fire in order to facilitate the exchange of hostages while also supporting Israel with arms and ammunition.
“There’s no change in our policy here,” Mr. Kirby said.
To that end, he said, the United States chose to not veto the resolution because it agreed with its basic goals. The United States did not approve the resolution either, however, because the text did not contain an explicit condemnation of the terror group Hamas, which launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“It did not condemn Hamas, and the one that we submitted on Friday did have a condemnation of Hamas,” Mr. Kirby said.
“Because, absent that, it did broadly reflect our views that it was important to have a cease-fire so we could get hostages out, we decided to abstain.”
The delegation was intended to discuss the two nations’ opposing views on a potential Israeli invasion of the Rafah Border Crossing that straddles Egypt and Gaza.
The Biden administration and most of the international community have warned against such an operation, which would likely result in heavy civilian casualties. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced into the area by Israeli military operations in the north.
“We were looking forward to having a discussion with them about alternatives and options to a major ground offensive because we don’t believe that a ground offensive in Rafah is the right course of action,” Mr. Kirby said.
“Especially given the 1.5 million people who are seeking refuge down there—seeking refuge, by the way, as the result of Israeli operations that were taking place in Khan Younis earlier and before that [in] Gaza City.”
It is unclear who from Israel would have been in the delegation, but Mr. Kirby said national security adviser Jake Sullivan would have been “personally involved.” Likewise, he said, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was still slated to meet with multiple U.S. officials this week.
Although the U.S. abstention allowed the call for a temporary cease-fire to pass, the Biden administration continues to provide arms and ammunition to Israel without conditions. When asked about the administration’s thoughts as to whether those arms would now be used in Rafah, Mr. Kirby reiterated that the administration was opposed to such an operation.
“We continue to support Israel as they go after Hamas, and nothing has changed about our view that a major ground operation in Rafah would be a mistake,” he said.
