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Jim Hanson, chief editor at the Middle East Forum, spoke with NTD Television on March 26 about the Biden administration’s decision a day earlier not to veto a UN Security Council resolution demanding for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war (without conditioning it on the release of Israeli hostages, or anything else, by Hamas).
Electoral considerations likely influenced the administration’s decision to abstain from the vote on UN Security Council Resolution 2728, said Hanson. Those who “want Israel to let Hamas get away” with the October 7 massacre have put enormous domestic political pressure on Biden, particularly in the battleground state of Michigan, where Muslim American demographic strength is highest. “They didn’t want to lose those votes, so, instead of vetoing this resolution as they should have, they went ahead and let the UN put pressure on Israel that it did not deserve.”
The resolution will accomplish “nothing” on the ground. While acknowledging the “tremendous” civilian toll during the Israeli assault, Hanson placed blame for this squarely on Hamas, which uses civilians to shield its military infrastructure, and emphasized that “there is no point in stopping hostilities” so long as it maintains a presence in Gaza. “If the people of Gaza are ever going to have peace, Hamas must be removed root and branch from that area and a new government put in.”
