The White House on Monday defended the U.S. abstention on a United Nations Security Council vote on calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying that the decision not to veto it wasn’t a change in U.S. policy toward Israel in its war against Hamas.
“Our vote does not, I repeat, does not represent a shift in our policy. We’ve been very clear. We’ve been very consistent in our support for a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Mr. Kirby said President Biden is “perplexed” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceling a trip by top officials to the U.S. in protest of the abstention. He said it was a non-binding resolution so it doesn’t have an impact on Israel’s ability to wage war on Hamas.
Speaking at the daily White House press briefing, Mr. Kirby said the decision to abstain was “consistent” because the resolution did not link a cease-fire to the release of hostages by Hamas.
“It’s very consistent with everything that we’ve been saying and we want to get done here,” he said.
The final Security Council vote was 14 in favor, no votes against the resolution and the U.S. abstention. The resolution called for an immediate cease-fire during the Muslim holy month and Ramadan and the immediate release of all hostages, but did not tie the two together.
After the vote, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the resolution “must be implemented.”
“Failure would be unforgivable,” he wrote on X.