After negotiating intensely for several days, the Biden administration chose not to cast a veto at the United Nations Security Council to defend Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. However, by abstaining from a resolution aimed at providing more humanitarian aid to Gaza, the administration limited the damage to America’s standing worldwide, as it has increasingly become the sole protector of Israel.
Although the outcome was a relief to U.S. officials who were loath to exercise the U.S. veto power in defense of Israel for the third time since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, abstaining from a 13-0 vote may look better than casting a veto, but it still might not improve America’s image abroad.
The diplomatic isolation the U.S. is experiencing now is a stark turnaround in international perceptions from a time when top U.S. officials had been leading a valiant fight to rally the world against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Today, as the U.S. defends Israel’s interests at the United Nations, backs its goal of dismantling Hamas, and supplies it with munitions, many view the Biden administration as enabling a hugely lethal Israeli military campaign. This has led to suffering and global outrage. Human rights groups, which previously praised U.S. efforts to hold Russia accountable, now condemn the U.S. for supporting Israel.
The U.S. is now in a crisis management situation over Gaza after initially building a coalition for Ukraine. They are at odds with staunch allies like France, Canada, Australia, and Japan, who voted in favor of a resolution for a cease-fire in Gaza, a resolution the U.S. vetoed on the grounds that it would allow Hamas to regroup and attack Israel again. Israel, for its part, blames civilians for embedding themselves among civilians and says it works to minimize civilian casualties. The health ministry in Gaza reports that the death toll is over 20,000, although the number of civilian casualties is unknown.
High-level U.S. officials who have found purpose in uniting Europe against Russia have privately admitted the past weeks have been difficult as the U.S. supplies and defends an Israeli campaign that has led to great suffering and global outrage. Maintaining that their defense of Israel does not contradict their confrontation with Russia, the officials state that they are standing up for the victim of a brutal and unprovoked attack in each situation.