Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas criticized the Biden administration for opting not to vote on the United Nation’s immediate ceasefire resolution amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
President Joe Biden’s administration has defended its decision, which angered Israel.
“The Biden administration abstaining from the UN ceasefire vote is deeply offensive and strategically stupid. It’s just another example of failed leadership from Joe Biden,” Cotton wrote on X on March 26.
The senator included an audio clip in the post of his appearance on The Hugh Hewitt Show where he was asked by the host about the federal government’s decision to abstain from the vote on the U.N. security resolution.
“It should come as no surprise to anyone,” said Cotton. “America has been abstaining from strength and competence and global leadership for the three plus years under Joe Biden. … Remember, this is the exact same team in the Biden administration that led another anti-Israel, anti-Zionist resolution through the Security Council in December of 2016.”
“So it was outrageous, deeply offensive, strategically stupid but – again – not surprising coming from Joe Biden,” said the senator.
The ceasefire resolution was passed by the U.N. Security Council on March 25 following a 14-0 vote. The resolution calls for “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.” It also demands an “immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages,” per CBN.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a visit from two of his top advisors to Washington, D.C. in response to the federal government’s abstention.
“This is a clear retreat from the consistent position of the U.S. in the Security Council since the beginning of this war,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, per CNBC. The statement added that “this withdrawal hurts both the war effort and the effort to release the abductees.”
National Security Advisor John Kirby defended the abstention vote during a press briefing at the White House on March 25.
“Our vote does not — I repeat — does not represent a shift in our policy,” he said. “We’ve been very clear, we’ve been very consistent in our support for a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal. That’s how the hostage deal was structured and the resolution acknowledges the ongoing talks.”
“We wanted to get to a place where we could support this resolution,” Kirby added. “But because the final text does not have key language that we think is essential, such as condemning Hamas, we couldn’t support it. Though because it does fairly reflect our view that a ceasefire and the release of hostages come together, we abstained.”
Kirby added that the Biden administration is “perplexed” by Netanyahu’s decision to cancel his advisors’ trip.
“It’s a nonbinding resolution. So, there’s no impact at all on Israel and Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas,” he said. “The prime minister’s office seems to be indicating through public statements that we somehow changed here. We haven’t.”
