The US announced that it would veto a Tuesday UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which was submitted by Algeria. Instead, according to a Reuters report, the US is proposing a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, combined with an objection to the planned IDF invasion of Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
According to the IDF, Rafah is where the remaining Hamas leaders are hiding in their underground tunnels, surrounded by 134 dead and alive Israeli hostages. The US resolution, should it be submitted and voted on, is a lifeline to murderers such as Yahya Sinwar, and a halt to any further Israeli attempts to seek and release more hostages by force.
HELPING THEM RUN
There’s one more, equally sinister message in the latest Biden plan to delay and dismantle the Israeli attack: on Monday, an Al Jazeera reporter named Ismail Abu Omar who moonlighted as a Hamas murderer, was able to sneak out of Gaza with help from the Egyptian authorities, and was flown out of Israeli harm’s way to Qatar. Should the IDF be prevented by the US resolution from entering Rafah, there’s no telling how many more Hamas murderers and arch-murderers would be allowed to escape justice in the same way.
The terrorist Ismail Abu Omar may be employed by Al Jazeera as a “journalist”, but he also invaded Israel on October 7th and praised the massacre, filming himself in Kibbutz Nir Oz, while publishing it on social media.
Listen to him cheering the brutal murder of Israelis in cold… pic.twitter.com/Gknub6iyj2
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) February 14, 2024
The trash “journalist” Ismail Abu Omar arriving in #Doha on a Qatari medical evacuation plane.@AlsisiOfficial and his corrupted Generals allowed him out through Rafah without notifying Israel. pic.twitter.com/520RN9Gndi
— Dana Levi דנה?????? (@Danale) February 18, 2024
The proposed resolution reflects the tough exchanges of recent days between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu over “humanitarian aid,” even as the IDF has been proving to the whole world that medical supplies that had been sent for the hostages remained unused inside the Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, while Israel was allowing for two planeloads of medicine to be delivered to Gazans.
Biden’s Envoy to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Sunday that the US is working for months on a hostage deal combined with a six-week ceasefire “from which we could then take the time and the steps to build a more enduring peace.”
“Though gaps remain, the key elements are on the table,” she said, embracing a win-win-win solution: Israeli hostages go free, a truce lasting at least a month and a half, and lavish humanitarian aid for the sick and starving Gaza civilians.
Naturally, since there’s no way to force Hamas to comply with this optimistic package, the next best thing is to push it on Israel.
ISRAEL’S BIGGEST “ALLIES” IN ACTION
The American draft that was obtained by Reuters calls on the Security Council to “underscore its support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released, and calls for lifting all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale,” and at the same time, “under current circumstances, a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries.”
The US draft resolution warns that an invasion of Rafah to locate and kill the Hamas leaders “would have serious implications for regional peace and security,” which is why “such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances.”
The American draft text also condemns the announcements of cabinet members such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel should return Jewish settlers to parts of Gaza from whence they were uprooted and expelled in 2005. Also banned: the expanded, kilometer-wide buffer zone along the Gaza border, on the Gaza side, which in the future would be considered a kill zone.
According to Reuters, the US proposed resolution rejects “any actions by any party that reduce the territory of Gaza, on a temporary or permanent basis, including through the establishment officially or unofficially of so-called buffer zones, as well as the widespread, systematic demolition of civilian infrastructure.”
The one saving grace according to Reuters is that the Biden administration does not plan to rush a UNSC vote, as explained by a senior administration official. This leaves the IDF with a very narrow window of opportunity in Rafah, which it must use – a move supported by 80% of Israelis, give or take a point.
Give ‘em hell, Bibi, Gallant, and Gantz.
Summary of Biden’s UNSC Resolution
- Supports ceasefire with Hamas
- Opposes IDF operations in Rafah
- Demands “humanitarian aid” imports into Gaza
- Opposes counter-terrorist buffer zone in Gaza
- Opposes territorial loss for Gaza
- Condemns talk of Jewish resettlement of Gaza
