United States
Military support
Unnamed US diplomatic sources confirmed on or around January 25, 2009 that United States Navy warships stationed in the Gulf of Aden had been ordered to track Iranian arms shipments. Israeli intelligence reports that were distributed to cabinet ministers suggested that Iran's Revolutionary Guard has an arms resupply program for Gaza.
Political support
The U.S. initially blocked the 30 December 2008 ceasefire proposal at the U.N. Security Council. On 31 December, the U.S. sought to hire a German merchant ship to deliver more ammunition to a U.S. supply base in Israel. Arms and munitions from such bases can be handed over to Israeli use in case of an emergency. Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip was allegedly made possible by weapons supplied by the U.S.:
"Israel's intervention in the Gaza Strip has been fueled largely by US supplied weapons paid for with US tax dollars," says a background briefing released Thursday by the Arms and Security Initiative of the New York-based New America Foundation.
The U.S. was the only UNSC member that refused to support the 8 January 2009 ceasefire resolution. Other Security Council members were stunned by the U.S. abstention. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is said to be proud of the role he played in persuading U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to refrain from supporting a ceasefire resolution she herself had helped to prepare:
Rice did not end up voting for Resolution 1860, thanks to a phone conversation Olmert held with US President George Bush shortly before the vote, the prime minister told a meeting of local authority heads in Ashkelon as part of a visit to the South.
Israel succeeded in persuading the U.S. to prevent the UNSC from condemning Israel's alleged white phosphorus attack on the Gaza UN headquarters. The U.S. veto of the proposal came only after being contacted by Israel's representatives. Israel's deputy ambassador to the UN, Danny Carmon, commented: "this is the first time we have succeeded in thwarting an attempt to act against us thanks to reliable firsthand information received from the Foreign Ministry and the IDF".
On 9 January, Secretary Rice defended Israel on the issue of deaths of civilians in Israeli operations and blamed Hamas' alleged practice of fighting from populated civilian structures - use of human shields - for Palestinian deaths. Also on 9 January, the U.S. House voted 390-5 to support the Israeli offensive(H.R. 34).
The Institute for Policy Studies has condemned the U.S. role in alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip . "The Israeli air strikes represent serious violations of international law -– including the Geneva Conventions and a range of international humanitarian law -– and the U.S. is complicit in all of it," wrote IPS fellow Phyllis Bennis. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a coalition of anti-Israel organizations, claim that the Israeli assault was made possible by U.S. military assistance and diplomatic backing. Amnesty International has expressed concern about the U.S. role in the conflict. CODEPINK, a grassroots women's antiwar group, has criticized a recent American Senate vote in support of the Israeli offensive.
Read more about this topic: Foreign Involvement In The Gaza War
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