Secret Talks, Diplomatic Pressure, and Growing Tensions: The hours preceding the escalating crisis between Israel and the United States over the wording of the Security Council resolution's text involved talks at all levels between the countries. Israel initially tried to work together with the US to soften the wording. When that failed, Israel tried to persuade the White House to exercise its veto. Only when that didn't work did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issue harsh statements against the US, making the crisis public.
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According to information obtained by Israel Hayom, overnight there were frequent talks between Minister Ron Dermer and senior White House officials, and between UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan and his counterpart Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
In these talks, the US initially succeeded in softening the original draft that originated with the non-permanent UN members with the support of Russia and China. The draft initially made no linkage between releasing the captives and a ceasefire.
Subsequently, the two issues were combined into one clause, but the American-Israeli demand to link the release of the captives to a ceasefire was firmly rejected by the rest. In addition, the sponsors of the resolution also rejected the US position to include a condemnation of Hamas.
Their insistence on preserving Hamas' status, not to mention the October 7 massacre, and also not to link the two as the US itself had demanded – led Israel to demand in final hours that its "great friend" veto the proposal, as it had done in the past.
But then senior Israeli officials heard for the first time that "at the highest levels of the White House" they were insisting this time on not vetoing.
This decision surprised Israel. Although similar statements had been made by President Joe Biden and his deputy, the fact that they would allow such a resolution that Israel's enemies could use against it this time, was a dangerous precedent, they argued to Netanyahu.
The White House made a decision, and in parallel, a decision was also made in Jerusalem. At this point, Netanyahu already knew he wouldn't get a US veto at the UN but still went public with that demand.
Officials on the Israeli side who were involved in the decision said, "If the US doesn't back Israel, there's no reason for us to send a delegation to listen to its proposals." That's when Israel resolved not to send the delegation that was supposed to leave the next morning.
The resolution passed by the UN is seen as very serious in Israel because its biggest problem is that it is open to interpretation. Its sponsors are certain that it requires Israel to cease fire first, rejecting the American claims that it is merely declarative.
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