Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx) accused the Biden administration of trying to “undermine” the future Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress and Senate by proposing a draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council. This resolution, Cruz argues, demands that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) pull out of Gaza and calls for a ceasefire but does not simultaneously call for the release of 101 Israeli and foreign hostages that Hamas and other terrorists continue to hold.
Cruz told Fox News Digital, “This resolution is just one of several assaults on Israel being planned at the United Nations, meant to preemptively and permanently undermine the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress.” He added that he would collaborate with President Trump and fellow Republicans to take all necessary actions to reverse these measures, including reassessing America’s relationship with the United Nations and the Palestinians, reducing aid, imposing sanctions on officials responsible for these actions, and countering governments and non-governmental organizations pushing or implementing these proposals.
The UN Security Council convened on Monday to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including a proposed resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The draft resolution is set for a vote in the coming days, but it does not include provisions for the hostages’ return, nor does it label Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The resolution, presented by Algeria, demands an immediate end to hostilities against Hamas. US officials have reportedly modified some of the language in the resolution to avoid triggering Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which would make the resolution legally binding.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, strongly opposed the wording of the resolution, stating, “Any resolution that does not condition the ceasefire on the release of the hostages means abandoning the 101 hostages to the hell of the terrorist monsters.” He went on to say, “The decision being promoted in this Council only strengthens Hamas and terrorism and abandons the hostages. We cannot allow the UN to tie the hands of the State of Israel from protecting its citizens, and we will not stop fighting until we return all the kidnapped men and women home.”
Cruz is not the only one worried that the US might abstain from vetoing the resolution, much like the Obama administration did in 2016. At that time, the US chose not to veto a resolution at the UN that declared any Jewish presence in territories beyond the ‘Green Line,’ including at the Western Wall, to be illegal.
Professor Anne Bayefsky, President of the Human Rights Voices organization, spoke with Arutz Sheva – Israel National News last week and said, “The Biden administration is now working fast and furiously to Trump-proof its disastrous Middle East foreign policy. Its partner of choice is the global epicenter of Israel-bashing and antisemitism, the United Nations.”
She further commented, “The template for ignoring the will of the American electorate by enabling the United Nations to do the dirty work of a lame-duck President was written by President Obama. In late December 2016, he was photographed playing golf while his UN Ambassador Samantha Power surreptitiously finalized a Security Council resolution that upended decades of bipartisan support for a negotiated settlement of key issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
According to Prof. Bayefsky, “This time around, the production of a new resolution to do lasting damage to Israel and mount an end-run around the election of Donald Trump is peeking through. A version of a first draft was leaked to Al Jazeera and, in response to a press inquiry, the State Department announced: ‘We will look at any resolution that comes up before the Security Council.'”
{Matzav.com}