An estimated 570,000 people in the Gaza Strip are now starving. Three-quarters of the territory’s 36 hospitals are closed. The remaining nine, all in southern Gaza, are “partially functional.” The shuttered hospitals in the north are serving as impromptu shelters for some of the 85 percent of Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced, but did not trek south to escape the ravages of Israel’s ground invasion. Beyond an estimated death toll of 20,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, a devastating 355,000 are suffering from infectious diseases as conditions in the territory worsen.
Amid all of this suffering, President Joe Biden delayed a United Nations vote for humanitarian aid to Gaza at least 1 eight times, watering it down until he felt satisfied enough to not veto it.
The vote is on a U.N. Security Council proposal, put forward by the United Arab Emirates and repeatedly whittled down just for Biden, that calls for limiting the hostilities in Gaza and expanding aid distribution. Officials reportedly crafted the resolution in such a way that it would be “tolerable” enough for the Biden administration to avoid a veto. The U.S. has long been Israel’s guarantor at the Security Council, using its veto as a permanent member of the council to block almost every measure critical of Israel.
For Biden, the preemptive concessions were not enough, and he continued to delay the UAE resolution. The main sticking points 2 for Biden were the resolution’s use of the word “cessation” in a call to end fighting and on allowing an independent inspection of aid going into Gaza, rather than the Israel-administered checks that have slowed aid shipments to a crawl.
As negotiations edged into Thursday evening, the vote was kicked once again, to Friday — but not without reward for Biden. He was able to force out language that does not establish a mechanism for U.N. inspection of aid, nor call for the “suspension of hostilities.”
On Friday, the fateful vote was finally held — after the U.S. first vetoed a Russian amendment to restore the resolution’s originally stronger language for a “suspension.” Indeed, the 15 member nations instead voted on a resolution calling for “the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The resolution passed, 13-0-2. Russia abstained out of frustration. The United States abstained, even after getting what it wanted.
Nevertheless, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield delivered remarks celebrating the passage, as if she hadn’t just voted to abstain from the resolution on behalf of Biden.
“This was tough, but we got there,” she began. “Since the start of this conflict, the United States has worked tirelessly to alleviate this humanitarian crisis … to push for the protection of innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and to work towards a lasting peace. Today’s votes bolsters those efforts.”
“Biden is effectively running war crimes management for the Israelis.”
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says the appeasement of Biden has made the resolution increasingly meaningless. “These changes would ensure that Israel’s slaughter in Gaza continues while minimizing the U.N.’s insight into what increasingly appears to be a genocide,” he told The Intercept. “This is Biden’s contribution to the resolution. Biden is effectively running war crimes management for the Israelis.”
In past days, Israeli forces allegedly 5 bulldozed sick and injured civilians outside a hospital; were accused by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem of besieging a church 6 , killing a mother and daughter with sniper fire; said by the U.N. to have summarily executed 7 at least 11 Palestinians; killed three of their own country’s hostages 8 in Gaza, who were shirtless and waving white flags; bombed 9 a maternity ward; and killed numerous 10 journalists.
With or without the concessions to Biden, the resolution takes less of a hard line against Israel’s assault than two previous resolutions at the U.N. — both opposed by the U.S. Two weeks ago, the U.S. blocked a Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire and hostage release; the resolution nearly passed, until the U.S. veto. Instead, that same day, the Biden administration approved the sale of 14,000 shells for Israeli tanks worth $106.5 million, to be delivered immediately, without congressional approval.
Days later, a similar U.N. resolution, this one in the General Assembly, which doesn’t have the power to take binding positions, passed 153-10; the U.S. was one of 10 nations 12 , including several vassal states and Israel, to vote against it.
The latest, watered-down resolution was designed from the outset not to gain U.S. support but simply to win its abstention, avoiding the veto. Even still, Biden wouldn’t play ball. In fact, as negotiations have been ongoing, the administration has been busy throwing wrenches elsewhere. State Department officials are apparently trying to block 13 a conference about Israeli violations of the Geneva Conventions.
And the U.S. was one of four nations to vote against a resolution on Tuesday that affirmed the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and emphasized achieving “a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.” The resolution 14 passed 172-4.
Though the U.S. expresses concern about civilian harm in Gaza, Israel appears to have done little to heed American warnings. The result, said some analysts, is that the U.S. is isolating itself from the world even as it maintains no leverage on Israel.
“You claim to be saying to the Israelis, ‘We want to see a different way of conducting this operation,’” said Daniel Levy, president of the U.S./Middle East Project and a former Israeli negotiator. “And at the same time, you’re providing the weapons, offering the diplomatic cover, watering down resolutions, vetoing resolutions, with no questions asked.”
“I think it’s so demeaning, the position they’re putting themselves in,” Levy told The Intercept. “The world is watching.”
While Biden’s strong support for Israel is in line with the pro-Israel consensus in Washington, poll after poll has shown a staying majority of Americans supporting a ceasefire, including most Democrats. On the question of sending more aid to Israel — as Biden has proposed — a recent poll 16 found Americans opposed, 46 to 45, a 16-point hike in opposition in one month.
Even on Capitol Hill, Democrats are increasingly turning against the Israeli assault on Gaza as the destruction continues with no clear war aim. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has, like Biden, echoed Israel advocates’ talk of the country’s “right to defend itself” since the war started on October 7, but this week urged 17 the U.S. to vote “YES” on the latest U.N. resolution. (The next day, Sanders modified his language to demand 18 the U.S. “not veto a reasonable resolution to stop the hostilities.”) Republican hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also conceded 19 this week that Israel could do more to limit civilian deaths.
Also this week, six moderate House Democrats known for their national security backgrounds sent a letter 20 to Biden, expressing their concern for Israel’s military strategy and the civilians they have killed. “We have dedicated our lives to national security and believe our nation’s values are a source of credibility and power,” Reps. Jason Crow, Mikie Sherrill, Chrissy Houlahan, Seth Moulton, Abigail Spanberger, and Elissa Slotkin wrote. “We know from personal and often painful experience that you can’t destroy a terror ideology with military force alone. And it can, and in fact, make it worse.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like many of his political rivals, holds no brief for Biden and would likely welcome a return of Donald Trump 23 , who frequently acquiesced 24 to Israel’s demands 25 without even Biden’s grumbling.
The resulting picture is one of Biden undermining his own campaign: alienating his base for a foreign ally likely to side with his GOP rival, and isolating the U.S. instead of rebuilding relationships post-Trump.
Levy, the former Israeli negotiator, said the repeated moves at the U.N. against worldwide opinion stood in sharp contrast to Biden’s claim to restore U.S. prestige abroad. “You can’t do both,” Levy said. “You can’t claim the mantle of the upholder of an international order and be its primary underminer at the same time.”
Update: December 22, 2023
This article has been updated with the results of the Friday vote in the U.N. Security Council.