President Joe Biden and his team repeat that Israel has every right to respond to the violence. But it was unclear if Washington asked Israel to refrain from certain maneuvers, either out of fear the conflict could escalate further or to keep Israel skeptics in the Democratic party from raising complaints.
No such request appears to have been made so far.
“We remain focused on holding the terrorists accountable for their attacks, and we support Israel taking necessary and proportionate action to defend its country and protect its people, and in doing so U.S. citizens living, working and traveling in Israel,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in an emailed statement. At least 11 Americans in Israel are confirmed dead from the attacks, with the administration noting it’s possible U.S. citizens are among Hamas’ hostages.
In previous crises in the region, the Biden administration has taken a paced response. Initially, the U.S. — at least in public — appears to give Israel carte blanche in its response. Over time, Washington ramps up the pressure to compel Jerusalem to agree to a ceasefire. (Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement on X two days ago calling for a cease-fire before it was deleted.) This is the playbook Biden used in 2021 during a much smaller skirmish between Israel and Hamas, ending the conflict in 11 days.
Israel is stressing the need to operate to the full extent of its military capabilities and so far, the Biden administration appears to be listening. Netanyahu told Biden “we have to go in” to Gaza, explaining that a ground invasion was the only way to root out Hamas, Axios reported. “Biden did not try to press Netanyahu or convince him not to go through with a ground operation,” according to the report.
Biden and national security adviser Jake Sullivan are slated to address the crisis later Tuesday. The way they talk about the risk to civilians in Gaza could give a sense of how far they’re willing to go in trying to limit Israel’s response.
The administration doesn’t want civilians in Gaza to suffer for Hamas’ alleged war crimes, even though the Israeli Defense Forces already noted some will unfortunately die, largely because Hamas has offices in buildings near homes, schools and businesses.
Asked by a reporter whether the administration had warned Israel in any way not to target civilians, the NSC’s John Kirby noted that Israel was counterattacking “aggressively, and given the size and scale and the scope of the violence, we understand where that’s coming from.” But, Kirby continued, Israel as a democracy shares values with the United States “when it comes to [the] law of war and respect for life.”
Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer reiterated that point in a Monday night interview on MSNBC, saying, “It is our advice that this war be conducted based on principles of international law.”
That suggests that while there hasn’t been a warning, there is trust within the administration that Israel will do what it can to protect noncombatant Gazans. Meanwhile, Israel has called up around 300,000 reservists to help with the campaign against Hamas — a campaign Netanyahu is talking about in severe terms.
“We have only started striking Hamas,” he said Monday. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”
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