Thomas Grove - The Wall Street Journal

Israel is increasingly split over its alliance with the U.S., with Washington’s decision to allow for the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza emboldening populist voices that demand Israel wrest more independence from American influence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back hard against the Biden administration’s decision to abstain from the resolution and break with an American tradition of vetoing measures Israel dislikes. In response, the Israeli leader shelved plans to send an Israeli delegation to Washington for talks on a planned ground operation in Rafah, one of Gaza’s southernmost cities.

Some of the premier’s right-wing allies went further, questioning whether Israel has come to rely too much on its American ally and shouldn’t chart a more independent path.

“Israel has become overly dependent on American arms in particular,” said Caroline Glick, an Israeli opinion columnist and former adviser to Netanyahu. “The nature of our relationship has to change from that of a client state and a sponsor to a partnership. I think it’s better for both sides.”

For decades, most Israelis have never questioned the country’s alliance with Washington. Israel depends on the U.S. on numerous fronts, from billions of dollars in military aid packages to coordination on countering Iran to cyber cooperation. In the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, the U.S. sent warships to the region, along with troops and military assets, in moves widely seen as deterring Lebanon-based militia Hezbollah and its ally Iran from entering the conflict and sparking a wider war.

In Wake of U.N. Resolution, Some in Israel Question U.S. Dependence© Provided by The Wall Street Journal

In Wake of U.N. Resolution, Some in Israel Question U.S. Dependence© Provided by The Wall Street Journal

Israel’s security establishment, as well as its center and left wing, see U.S. support for Israel as a bedrock of the country’s future.

“The special relationship between Israel and the United States is an anchor in Israel’s security and foreign relations, and direct dialogue with the American administration is an essential asset that must not be given up on even when there are challenges and disputes,” war cabinet member Benny Gantz said Monday.

But cracks have started to emerge. A majority of those on the Israeli left and center, 82.5% and 64.5%, respectively, support coordination with the Americans. On the right, however, a 64% majority says Israel should act only in accordance with the judgment of its own leadership, according to a poll conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute in March.

Glick said the United Nations council decision was “deeply hostile to Israel” since it sent a message to Hamas that it could have everything it wanted without releasing the hostages. The resolution called for a cease-fire as well as the release of hostages, instead of embracing the Israeli position that a cease-fire be predicated on the hostages’ release.

Shortly after the resolution passed, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X: “Um Shmum,” best translated as “U.N.—Shm-U.N.” The phrase, originally attributed to Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion, conveys the early conviction that Israel must look out for itself and can’t rely on international organizations like the U.N.

A member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, parliamentarian Boaz Bismuth, offered more measured criticism, calling the tensions a “disagreement in the family.”

“We’re passing through an uncomfortable moment in the relationship” but will overcome it as had been done in the past with different administrations, he said.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the abstention didn’t represent a “change in policy” for President Biden. “There is no reason for this to be seen as some sort of escalation,” he said.

After Oct. 7, Biden offered a full-throated defense of Israel and flew to meet Netanyahu less than two weeks after the attack that killed 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians. At the time he was greeted with large billboards alongside the highway in Tel Aviv with his image, the American flag and the words, “Thank you Mr. President.”

But since then, growing criticism by Biden of the escalating death toll of Palestinians—now over 32,000—has caused tensions, and given the more populist members of the Israeli government room to argue that Israel shouldn’t take international opinion into consideration or be hamstrung by its alliance with the U.S.

At the start of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s visit to the Pentagon on Tuesday, his American counterpart said it was a moral and strategic imperative to protect Palestinian civilians.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in unusually assertive remarks, called the situation in Gaza a “humanitarian catastrophe.” He also warned that “in Gaza today, the number of civilian casualties is far too high and the amount of humanitarian aid is far too low.”

Gallant said that in the meeting he emphasized that Israel won’t cease military operations in Gaza until all the remaining hostages are returned. “Only a decisive victory” will end the war, he wrote on X.

The Israeli government pushback against the Biden administration has startled centrists, who see continuing U.S. support as crucial in defeating Hamas and ensuring Oct. 7 never happens again. A decisive moment lies ahead as Israel plans a potential offensive in Rafah, where an estimated one million people are sheltering, at a time when other countries have voiced increasing criticism of Netanyahu and the course of the war since the Gaza ground operation.

In Wake of U.N. Resolution, Some in Israel Question U.S. Dependence© Provided by The Wall Street Journal

In Wake of U.N. Resolution, Some in Israel Question U.S. Dependence© Provided by The Wall Street Journal

“Netanyahu is playing now with one of the most critical elements of Israel’s national security,” said Chuck Freilich, former deputy national security adviser. “It doesn’t matter how good your soldiers are, if they don’t have weapons, it’s over,” he said referring to the annual military aid packages that usually amount to between $4 billion and $5 billion.

Netanyahu faces record low polling numbers after the Oct. 7 attack, leading some analysts to say the Israeli leader is playing up his confrontation with the U.S. to win votes on the right. Only 15% of Israelis would like to see him as prime minister after the war, according to an Israeli Democracy Institute poll from January. A March poll by IDI says only 32% of Jewish Israelis approve of Netanyahu’s conduct since Oct. 7.

‎“The irresponsibility shown by Netanyahu is unimaginable. He is accelerating this crisis only to earn points with his base,” the head of opposition, Yair Lapid, said on X on Monday.

“We should be worried as long as he’s the prime minister, he’s sacrificing it all for his own political survival,” said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli Consul General in New York.

The Israeli leader has also been trying to push through an unpopular law that exempts ultraorthodox Israelis from serving in the military. That law was meant to be put to a vote on Tuesday, but was delayed.

The U.S. has rarely used its leverage in the Security Council before to express dissatisfaction with Israel. The last time was in 2016, under the Obama administration, when the U.S. abstained from voting on a resolution that called for a halt to all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

Nancy Youssef in Washington contributed to this article.