America has said to Israel that enough is enough. But how far is Benjamin Netanyahu willing to push the friendship?

Washington’s decision to allow a vote at the United Nations Security Council that Israel did not want indicates a new low between the United States and Israel.

It further isolates Israel. The US, its strongest supporter, has finally said enough is enough.

The US has been trying for months to get Israel to change the way it’s been prosecuting the war in Gaza.

US officials have made clear that Israel has been killing too many civilians since the war began after Hamas’ atrocities in southern Israel on October 7.

Months ago, President Joe Biden described Israel’s bombing of Gaza as “indiscriminate” – a damning description of this tactic in one of the most densely-populated places on Earth.
Children are slowly starving to death in Gaza

The resolution is unlikely to make any difference on the ground.

The death toll in Gaza now stands at 32,333 since the war began, according to the local health ministry.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pressure from the far right of his government to continue the war.

And while such resolutions are technically binding, the reality is that the UN cannot force Israel to stop the war.

The US is also unlikely to allow sanctions against Israel for not abiding by the resolution, which calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, coupled with the immediate release of all remaining Israeli hostages.
The significance of America sitting out the vote

Tensions between the US and Israel have been developing for months, but Washington’s decision to make a public declaration of its discontent – by not doing what it has always done in the past and vetoing a resolution calling for a ceasefire – shows the extent of the deterioration.

Israel has strongly resisted any calls for a ceasefire, arguing that such a move would undermine its aim of destroying the capability of Hamas to ever be able to commit another attack.

Rather than vote for the resolution, the US abstained – which meant that it did not exercise its veto, which it often does with resolutions that Israel does not want passed.
UN Security Council demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza

The fact that the US has abandoned its role as “veto protector” of Israel signifies that the relationship is under enormous stress.

“This shows that trust between the Biden administration and Netanyahu may be breaking down. If the crisis is not managed carefully, it’s only going to continue to worsen,” long-time Washington player Aaron David Miller, who has been a Middle East negotiator for both the Democrats and Republicans, told Reuters.

On all available evidence at the moment, the crisis is unlikely to get any better because of Israel’s domestic political reality.

Netanyahu is caught between two powerful forces – on one side is the White House, wanting this war to end as soon as possible.
These voters could decide who wins the White House — and they’re furious

Arab American votes were once all but guaranteed for Democrats, but now in the swinging state of Michigan where every vote counts, that once faithful voter bloc is shrinking — and furious.

The Democrats have been taking a serious amount of political heat for its hitherto comprehensive backing of Israel’s war, to the point where they now face the possibility that they will lose Michigan in the November election.

Biden is in the fight of his political life, and cannot afford to lose any states, particularly one as large as Michigan.

On the other side, Netanyahu is facing pressure from two far-right ministers who are keeping his fragile coalition government in power – Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Minister for Finance Bezalel Smotrich.

Those two have made clear that the war should continue until Hamas is completely destroyed.

Their supporters argue that that is not the case at this moment: that Israel cannot claim victory at least until Hamas commander in Gaza Yahya Sinwar is killed.
What happens now?

Netanyahu reacted angrily to Washington’s decision not to block the vote – he immediately cancelled an Israeli delegation to Washington.

Such a fit of pique by Netanyahu is unwise and unseemly. No other country has supported Israel as strongly as the US.

Indeed, the bombs that Israel has been “indiscriminately” dropping on Gaza – and continues to drop — are mainly American.

But the anger reflects Netanyahu’s view of Israel’s place in the relationship – which many in Washington see as an arrogant view.

Famously, Bill Clinton referenced that arrogance in his first meeting with Netanyahu after he became president.

Clinton aides later told the media that once Netanyahu had left the president’s office, Clinton turned to his aides and asked: “Who is the fu****g superpower here?”

Yet again, Netanyahu is acting as the more powerful country, cancelling a delegation to the US in anger at Washington’s decision not to block the UN resolution.

Now, Netanyahu can only hope that Biden doesn’t reciprocate and begin to cancel anything – particularly American-made bombs.