The U.S. government was able to unify Israel and the terrorist group Hamas on one key issue: Both sides now agree that President Joe Biden has undergone a shift on policy toward America's Jewish ally.
Israel decried and Hamas praised an abstention by the U.S. from a United Nations Security Council vote Monday that called for a cease-fire without demanding the release of the remaining hostages. While the U.S. asserts that the resolution is nonbinding, experts say it is.
Regardless, Hamas, the terrorist group that occupies and runs Gaza, is now more emboldened to do nothing in hostage negotiations.
"Regarding the American administration, there is no doubt that there are clear changes in its policy towards Israel," Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad told Newsweek. "And this is perhaps due to the stupid and foolish policy of the occupying state, which commits genocide, killing civilians, and starvation.
"America has found that Israel is putting it in an awkward position before the world, and it cannot justify its retaliatory actions against civilians. America also feels that Israel is floundering and is not achieving any of the goals it has set for itself."
As a result of the U.S. decision against vetoing the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a high-level delegation visit to Washington, D.C.
"The United States has abandoned its policy in the U.N. today," Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office.
A senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C., agreed.
"An abstention from a U.N. Security Council permanent member is a yes vote, because it means they are not exercising their veto and basically agree with the text, even if they don't want to say so," Hussein Ibish told CNBC.
The ultimate sin for Israel is that the U.S. tacitly backed a resolution that does not require Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
"The resolution demands a cease-fire and separately demands the release of hostages, it does not call for a cease-fire that is conditioned on hostages being released," Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Jewish News Syndicate.
Now, the world expects Israel to acquiesce to a U.N. resolution, one that Hamas would scoff at if the vote went against it.
"Since the vote, Hamas terrorists praised your resolution, refused the hostage deal and have not released even a single hostage, and immediately fired more rockets at Israeli civilians," Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan posted on X. "Did you honestly expect radical jihadists who rape women and slaughter babies to be moved by a Security Council resolution?"
Hamad made clear Hamas was pleased.
"America committed a grave mistake when it granted Israel the ability and legitimacy to commit crimes and genocide and provided it with all forms of support, and it did not exert sufficient pressure to stop the war," Hamad told Newsweek. "We believe that America can oblige Israel to stop the war."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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