Biden's Talk On Israel Is Changing, But His Actions Remain The Same

Instead of using his leverage and pressuring Israel to simply let aid through, President Joe Biden is playing games.

by Khury Petersen-Smith, Newsweek

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has reached unprecedented levels.

Israel’s assault on the territory has killed over 31,000 Palestinians so far, with hundreds of thousands more at risk of dying from starvation and disease. Gaza’s entire population of more than 2 million people faces hunger, a U.N.-backed report said recently.

Even the Biden administration, which has taken longstanding U.S. support of Israel to a new level, has started to change its tune in public.

Vice President Kamala Harris called recently for an “immediate” temporary ceasefire of six weeks. And in his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called on Israel to “allow more aid into Gaza,” even announcing the construction of a pier off Gaza’s coast to allow for shipping aid by sea.

These acknowledgements of the crisis are welcome, if overdue. But the administration’s actions are more important than its words. So far, the U.S. has sent Israel more than 100 separate transfers and bombs and other weapons since October—all without congressional review—and repeatedly vetoed calls for ceasefire in the U.N. Security Council.