On March 25, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2728 calling for a bilateral cease-fire in Gaza for the remaining two weeks of Ramadan, along with other provisions. It made headlines in large part because the United States did not veto it as it had previous cease-fire resolutions. The Biden administration, however, had no intention for the resolution to actually take effect.

The United States was the only country in the 15-member United Nations body not to vote in favor, once again demonstrating its isolation in the international community. The Biden administration had threatened to veto the original draft resolution calling for a permanent cease-fire, only agreeing to not cast a veto in return for dropping the word “permanent.”

The other changes the Biden administration insisted on are revealing: While it “demands” that Hamas release Israeli hostages, the United States made sure that the resolution only “emphasizes the urgent need” to get desperately needed aid to Palestinians, without mentioning that it is Israel that is preventing it.

The Biden administration is trying to create an impression that they are supporting the United Nations to bring an end to the fighting when, in fact, they are not.

The United States had initially pressed for the resolution to condemn Hamas while not condemning Israel, but it condemned neither. According to U.S. officials, the failure to single out Hamas for condemnation was the primary reason the United States did not vote in favor.

Despite a decision by Israel to delay a meeting in Washington in protest of the U.S. refusal to veto, White House spokesperson John Kirby insisted, “Nothing, nothing has changed about our policy. Nothing.”

But there was one possible difference the non-veto may have indicated: While the resolution demanded both a temporary cease-fire and the unconditional release of hostages, it was the first time the United States allowed for even a temporary cease-fire resolution to pass without conditioning it on a hostage release.

Even after Israel’s killing of seven humanitarian aid workers, an administration official quoted by Politicoemphasized that President Joe Biden’s public statement demonstrating his upset at Israel killing seven humanitarian aid workers was “all we have planned” in regard to holding Israel accountable. And, responding to reporters’ questions about whether there will be any consequences to Israel’s ongoing violations, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby responded, “We are still supporting Israel’s ability to defend itself against this still-viable threat. And that’s going to continue.”

U.S. officials immediately made clear that they would not allow the resolution to be enforced. Indeed, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Greenfield-Thomas, echoed by other Biden administration officials, insisted that the resolution was somehow “non-binding.” This led to a storm of protests, even from conservative allies like the United Kingdom, citing Article 25 of the U.N. Charter which declares that “The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.” Indeed, a landmark 1971 decision by the International Court of Justice confirmed that Security Council resolutions were indeed binding under international law.

There is also a broad consensus of international legal scholars that such resolutions are obligatory, particularly when the language of the resolution includes the word “demands” in the operational clauses. Despite this, they are not enforceable unless enacted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which the United States has refused to allow in the case of Israel and other allies.

The Biden administration’s audacious claim that U.N. Security Council resolutions are non-binding is, therefore, not simply a means of relieving pressure on Israel’s right-wing government, but an apparent attempt to undermine the international legal system in place since World War II.

Biden’s attitude towards the enforceability of U.N. Security Council resolutions has varied throughout his........

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