US-Israel relations reach a new low

Tensions between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intensified this week when the US, which has consistently vetoed UN Security Council resolutions demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, abstained instead.

In response Netanyahu abruptly cancelled a planned visit of a high-ranking Israeli delegation for talks with the White House over an impending military operation in Rafah. He has since asked the White House to reschedule the meeting in an apparent bid to ease tensions between the two allies.

The US is opposed to an invasion of Gaza, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. Israel argues invading Rafah is necessary to eliminate Hamas.

Attempting to explain the thinking behind the US abstention, Frank Lowenstein, a former state department official who helped lead Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2014, told the Washington Post that three major factors drove the move.

They are deep disagreements between Washington and Israel over a large-scale invasion of Rafah, the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, and Israel’s announcements of new settlements while the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was visiting the country last Friday.