US-Israel tensions aren't all Netanyahu's fault - analysis

• Published date: 29 March 2024
• Author: HERB KEINON
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Israel will forever be grateful for the way he stood by the country in its darkest hour, how he warned Iran and its proxy Hezbollah not to take advantage of the situation and fully open other fronts against Israel, and how he sent US aircraft carrier strike forces to the region to back up those warnings. And, indeed, Iran and Hezbollah were deterred

Israel will forever be grateful for the way Biden immediately launched an arms airlift to the country, making good on his promise to ensure that Israel has the wherewithal to defend itself.

The country will also long remember the way he came here 11 days after Hamas's attack, the first US president to visit Israel in time of war, and relieved the country's stunning feeling of isolation by demonstrating genuine sympathy and empathy.

Many, frankly, were surprised by the Democratic president's unequivocal, unstinting support. In the days and weeks immediately following October 7, Biden did the right thing by Israel.

Hamas welcomed the resolution that the US allowed to pass

On Monday, by instructing the US not to veto Security Council Resolution 2728 calling for an immediate ceasefire for Ramadan that will lead to a "lasting sustainable" ceasefire but not making that contingent on the Security Council's call in the same resolution for Hamas – which it has yet to condemn for October 7 – to release all the hostages, he did the wrong thing by Israel.

It did not take long for the consequences of this action to be felt.

Just hours after Hamas welcomed the resolution (imagine the UN Security Council passing a resolution that ISIS or al-Qaeda, Hamas's twins, would welcome), the terrorist organization turned down the terms painstakingly hammered out in weeks of negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

The refusal of the Security Council to even once – either through a resolution or in a statement put out by its president – condemn Hamas for its October 7 atrocity is staggering. Especially considering that the council knows how to condemn terrorism when Israel is not on the receiving end.

For example, on March 22, one day after a terrorist attack in Moscow killed some 140 people, the council issued a statement condemning "in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack."

The council swiftly issued a similar statement on Wednesday, within 24 hours of when a suicide bomber in Pakistan killed five Chinese workers and their Pakistani driver.

Yet it's now 174 days since terrorists murdered 1,200...