The US is determined to go on record as a pro-Israel country in the current Gaza crisis, even if it will hurt the United States in the long term, independent journalist Caleb Maupin told Sputnik.
That explains why Washington has been adamant that no resolution pass the UN Security Council that would in any way “tie Israel's hands,” the political analyst said. The UNSC finally adopted a UAE-drafted resolution on the ongoing crisis in Gaza that had been greatly toned down.
“This resolution was watered down to almost nothing,” Maupin underscored.
The UN Security Council adopted a UAE-drafted resolution on December 22, calling for an appointment of a "humanitarian coordinator" with responsibility to facilitate humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The resolution was adopted in a 13-0 vote, with Russia and the United States abstaining. The resolution requests that the secretary-general appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator, who will be responsible for "facilitating, monitoring and verifying the humanitarian nature of all relief consignments to Gaza provided through states that are not party to the conflict."
The resolution also calls for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors” throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable humanitarian access, as well as calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Amid global outrage over the rising Gaza death toll and a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory, the diluted resolution passed after a week of delays in negotiations to avoid a veto by Washington, a key ally of Israel. The weakening of the language on a cessation of hostilities amid Israel’s war on Hamas left several council members, including Russia, frustrated.
“The Russian Federation proposed the following oral amendment … ‘and in this regard calls for an urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access and for urgent steps toward a sustainable cessation of hostilities,’” Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said. However, the US moves on the resolution have resulted in a “toothless” and “neutered” draft. Nebenzia slammed the language that called for the creation of “conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” saying it would give Israel a “free hand” to continue its operations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored in a post on X that he hoped the resolution would improve the delivery of aid, but stated that "a humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare.” The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reiterated the need for an “immediate ceasefire.”
“It just wasn’t enough for the United States to have the resolution not call for a ceasefire. I mean, they went through this and made so many changes. They were just adamant that there be nothing in here criticizing what Israel is doing in any way, implying that action might be taken against Israel,” Caleb Maupin said.
The journalist and author referenced the idiomatic phrase about “picking the hill you want to die on,” and continued:
“Israel is the hill the United States wants to die on. The US… will not stop Israel. They will not oppose Israel. They will give Israel license. They will protect Israel. They will champion Israel. Biden now wants 14 billion more dollars for Israel. The whole world is looking on in horror at what Israel is doing. And the United States is saying, ‘make sure that we're involved, make sure that we're complicit.’ I mean, it's really shocking.”
According to the pundit, it's evident that “a lot of the more liberal folks in the Biden administration really don't like what [Benjamin] Netanyahu is doing, and see that it's going to hurt the United States in the long term.” Furthermore, “public opinion in America doesn't line up with this,” Maupin noted.
“This is going to hurt the United States in the long term. This is going to cause more division in the world. This is not a good situation at all. But this is where the Biden White House wants us to be.”
Regarding the current crisis in the Red Sea that was triggered by the latest spiral of the Palestine-Israel crisis, Caleb Maupin characterized it as “a David and Goliath story.”
“The Houthis are, at this point, the heroes of the entire Arab and Muslim world. They're out there seizing ships that do business with Israel or have something to do with Israel. You know, Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world, if not the poorest. But they will fight Israel in a way that no other force outside of Hamas and the forces in Gaza are doing right now… And now there's talk of a US military operation in the Red Sea to protect Israeli ships... So this is a very dynamic situation… a situation where the whole world is kind of cheering for a group of people in a very, very poor country that are standing up to some of the biggest economic entities in the world.”
“Now, the whole Muslim world is united against Israel at this point, and the United States is seen as Israel's financial backer... And the US is thoroughly isolated… Overall, the balance of forces in the Middle East in the last two or three years has shifted dramatically against the United States, I would say,” Caleb Maupin concluded.