Washington, D.C. — Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (Orthodox Union), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, repudiated the Biden Administration’s abstention from voting on a resolution at the United Nations Security Council addressing the war between Israel and Hamas.

The leadership of the Orthodox Union stated:

The Biden Administration has been uniquely supportive of Israel’s war against Hamas for much of the past 5 months, but it’s abstention at the U.N. Security Council today undermines Israel’s effort to defeat Hamas, a goal the White House says it shares with Israel, and perpetuates the UN’s moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel.

Nathan Diament, Executive Director of Public Policy at the Orthodox Union, said:

“Over the past months since 10/7, the Biden Administration has practically supported Israel in its war against Hamas by approving and delivering more than 100 arms sales to Israel, proposing $14.5 billion in aid, and refusing to condition aid. However, the decision to abstain rather than veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” without explicit conditioning of that ceasefire on the immediate release of all the hostages held by Hamas is counterproductive to the U.S. and Israel’s shared goal of defeating Hamas. We urge the administration to stay the course and unwaveringly support Israel as it seeks to defend itself against a terrorist enemy committed to its destruction.” 

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Orthodox Union Executive Vice President stated:

“Yesterday, Jews around the world observed the holiday of Purim. The heroes of that story, Esther and Mordechai, demonstrate how one must not bow or be silent in the presence of evil and its supporters. Throughout the current conflict, the United States has reliably played this role in the chambers of the obsessively anti-Israel United Nations – until today, when it chose to be silent in the face of the Security Council’s latest efforts to undermine Israel and its continued refusal to properly condemn Hamas. In the face of evil, one must not abstain.”