No Limits: The Biden Administration's Support for Israel's War on Gaza

ABSTRACT The war in Gaza that Israel launched in response to the Hamas‐led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has been the longest and deadliest war in the history of the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict and one of the most lethal and destructive in recent history. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, and most of the Gaza Strip completely devastated. Leading international human rights organizations have characterized Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide. This article seeks to explain why the administration of US President Joseph Biden not only allowed this mass killing and destruction to continue for as long as it did, but also actively enabled it by supplying Israel with American weapons and providing it with diplomatic cover. We present two main reasons why the Biden administration refrained from using American leverage over Israel: the first concerns President Biden's personal beliefs and diplomatic style, and the second concerns the Biden administration's wider strategic considerations in the Middle East, especially regarding Iran. On the individual level, Biden is a self‐proclaimed and genuine Zionist with a deep‐seated commitment to Israel. In regional terms, the Biden administration sought to keep Israel militarily strong to deter Iran and its proxies. They feared that stopping or even reducing its military support for Israel would embolden Israel's adversaries, who are also adversaries of the United States. Together, these two reasons account for the Biden administration's unconditional and unwavering support for Israel throughout the Gaza war.