Why Biden has had enough of Netanyahu

The fractured relationship between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now official, as is Israel’s isolation on the international stage.

In theory, the US said nothing in the latest vote at the United Nations Security Council: abstaining from casting a vote on whether it supports an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas. In practice, sitting out the vote was a symbolically powerful moment, allowing the UN’s premier forum for peace and security to pass its first ceasefire resolution since Israel’s war with Hamas began in October.

Throughout most of its history, the US has been Israel’s last line of defence on the Security Council, using its veto power as a permanent member to block resolutions that implicitly or explicitly criticise Israel.

Since the start of the war, the US has vetoed three ceasefire resolutions, arguing that they undermined Israel’s right to selfdefence and risked empowering Hamas after it launched its attacks on Israel last October.

Now the US has laid down its veto, formalising a rift between Biden and Netanyahu that has been apparent for months. In December, Biden warned Israel that it was losing international support because of its ‘‘indiscriminate bombing’’ in Gaza; in February he described Israel’s campaign as ‘‘over the top’’.

Even fierce Israel defender Donald Trump is fed up with the conflict.

‘‘You have to finish up your war. To finish it up. You gotta get it done,’’ Trump told the Israel Hayom newspaper in an interview published yesterday. He added that ‘‘Israel has to be careful because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing support’’.

The short resolution passed by the Security Council demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, which ends on April 9, as a step towards a ‘‘lasting sustainable ceasefire’’ as well as the unconditional release of all Israeli hostages.

The US has sought to downplay the significance of the vote, saying it supported the key elements of the resolution: a ceasefire and the return of hostages held by Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office, however, labelled it a ‘‘clear retreat’’ from the previous US position. ‘‘This backing down hurts the war effort and the effort to release the hostages because it gives Hamas hope that international pressure will let them get a ceasefire without releasing our hostages,’’ a spokesperson said.

To show his displeasure, Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit to Washington by Israeli officials to discuss a possible Israeli invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where more than half of the territory’s population is now sheltering.

The looming possibility of a Rafah invasion convinced the US to switch from veto to abstention in the latest Security Council vote. The Biden administration has insisted that a full-scale invasion of Rafah would be a mistake, but after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Israel last week Netanyahu insisted that ‘‘we have no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah’’.

Tuesday’s abstention was not unprecedented. In 2016, the Obama administration abstained from voting on a resolution demanding a halt to the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a move seen as dramatic at the time.

The vote did not deter Israel: settlement building has continued, and even accelerated, since the resolution passed.