Joe Biden isn't the only US president to back Israel amid criticism of military operations and abuses against Palestinians.
As the Palestinian price from Israel’s continuing bombardment of Gaza mounts, anger with US President Joe Biden’s handling of things is growing.
On an equivalent day that Israeli air raids killed 10 members of one family and leveled an 11-story building housing the media offices of Al Jazeera and therefore the Associated Press, also as residential apartments, Biden reasserted his unequivocal support for Israel.
The White House on Saturday said the US president called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time since the crisis began and “reaffirmed his strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza”.
While calling for de-escalation, Washington has did not urge an instantaneous ceasefire or utter a word of criticism directed at Israel.
US progressive legislators, Palestine advocacy groups et al. are expressing disappointment with Biden’s policy. But the US president’s position isn't unique among an extended line of folks presidents who have shown nearly unconditional support for Israel in times of conflict.
May 2021
Biden has twice issued statements reaffirming his commitment to Israel’s “right to defend itself” against rockets fired from Gaza during Israel’s ongoing offensive on the territory.
Israeli officials say thousands of rockets are fired from Gaza towards Israel, where 10 people are killed so far, while a barrage of Israeli airstrikes on the besieged territory has killed a minimum of 188 Palestinians and injured hundreds more.
Top Biden administration officials have stressed their “strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself” while saying the US is pushing for a “de-escalation”. The US also blocked a United Nations Security Council statement that might have involved an end to the violence.
Today the President spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, reaffirmed his strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza, and condemned these indiscriminate attacks against Israel. pic.twitter.com/baHWh1b6Q2
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 15, 2021
May 2018
Former US President Donald Trump – a staunch defender of Israel and therefore the country’s prime minister, Netanyahu – rejected any attempts to criticize Israel for the killing of dozens of protesters in Gaza in May 2018.
Palestinians were participating during a “Great March of Return” rally when Israeli forces opened fire on the gang. The deadly violence coincided with the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem after the Trump administration moved it from Tel Aviv during a move that drew the ire of Palestinians.
“The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response, and because the Secretary of State said, Israel has the proper to defend itself,” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said at the time.
July-August 2014
Israel administered 10 days of aerial bombardments of the Gaza Strip in July 2014 before launching a ground offensive into the territory. On July 18, then-US President Barack Obama told reporters he had “reaffirmed [his] strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself” during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “No nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders, or terrorist tunneling into its territory,” Obama said.
“I also made clear that us, and our friends and allies, are deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation and therefore the loss of more innocent life,” said Obama. quite 1,500 Palestinian civilians, including quite 500 children, were killed therein Israeli operation in Gaza, consistent with the UN.
November 2012
More than 100 Palestinian civilians were killed when Israel launched a military offensive on Gaza in November 2012 after it assassinated Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari.
Obama another time defended Israel’s actions: “There is not any country on earth that might tolerate missiles raining on its citizens from outside its borders. So we are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on peoples’ homes.”
December 2008-January 2009
Israel’s offensive in Gaza, dubbed “Operation Cast Lead”, began within the morning of December 27, 2008. When it had been declared over 22 days later, Israeli fire had killed about 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and razed much of the territory to the bottom, Amnesty International says.
But on January 2, then-US President George W Bush – who was within the final weeks of his time within the White House – placed sole blame for things on Hamas. “This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas – a Palestinian terrorist organization supported by Iran and Syria that involves Israel’s destruction,” Bush said, as reported by NBC News at the time. He also said any ceasefire “that results in rocket attacks on Israel isn't acceptable”.
2000-2005
An incendiary visit by Israeli politician Ariel Sharon to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque in September 2000 led to mass Palestinian protests and confrontations with Israeli security forces that left seven Palestinians dead. The Second Intifada, also referred to as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was launched.
Both Palestinian armed groups – which began deploying suicide bombings – and Israel were accused of war crimes and therefore the indiscriminate killing of civilians during the uprising. Israel launched air raids and incursions into Gaza and therefore the West Bank. a minimum of 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis were killed within the fighting.
Newly elected President George W Bush didn't approve of early Israeli operations but closely aligned with Sharon within the wake of the 9/11 attacks and subsequent “War on Terror”. The alliance was seen as giving Israel a good berth for military actions, while disproportionately blaming Palestinians for any violence. Bush also supported Sharon’s refusal to interact with Palestinian President Yasir Arafat.
In a 2002 speech, Bush became the primary US president to publicly support a Palestinian state, but he said such support was conditional on an entire Palestinian overhaul of its leadership, institutions, and security arrangements. “Today, Palestinian authorities are encouraging, not opposing, terrorism,” he said. “This is unacceptable. and therefore us won't support the establishment of a Palestinian state until its leaders engage during a sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure.”
1996
US President Clinton defended Israel after its military launched an attack on a UN compound in Qana, in southern Lebanon, where many civilians had been sheltering in April 1996. The attack killed quite 100 civilians and injured many others.
Israel said the attack was administered in error, but a report back to the UN Security Council found that “while the likelihood can't be ruled out completely, the pattern of impacts within the Qana area makes it unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the results of technical and/or procedural errors”.
Tens days after the massacre, during a speech to pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Clinton said Lebanese children in Qana “were caught between – make no mistake about it – the deliberate tactics of Hezbollah in their positioning and firing and therefore the tragic misfiring in Israel’s legitimate exercise of its right to self-defense”.
1987-1991
A series of protests, strikes, and boycotts defined the primary Intifada, with Israeli security forces criticized for disproportionate crackdowns, including the utilization of live fire against Palestinians.
The uprising erupted as US President Reagan had begun to bolster Israel’s role as a “unique strategic asset”, making aid to Israel more readily available and giving the country special access to US military technology. While generally adverse to criticizing Israel, the Reagan administration in 1987 condemned Israel's security forces for “harsh security measures and excessive use of live ammunition”.
His successor, George HW Bush, took a comparatively firmer stance with Israel, pushing a delay of loan guarantees in exchange for a halt to the building of settlements within the occupied West Bank and participation within the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference.
1982
Reagan admitted that Israel gave no warning when its military invaded southern Lebanon in June of 1982 amid cross-border fighting. When asked about the US’s failure to condemn the action, or stop arms sales to Israel, Reagan told reporters, “The situation is so complicated and therefore the goals that we might wish to pursue are what is dictating our conduct immediately .”
Still, he denied giving Israel the “green light” for the invasion, saying, “We were caught the maximum amount all of sudden as anyone, and that we wanted a diplomatic solution and believe there could are one.”
1973
In October 1973, several Arab nations led by Egypt and Syria launched a military offensive to regain the Sinai and Golan Heights, which Israel had captured during the 1967 war and continued to occupy.
Following a failed counterattack, the US began airlifting weapons to Israel, with US President Nixon credited by then-Israeli Prime Minister Meir as expediting the transfer. The weapons are widely seen as turning the tide of the conflict, which Nixon told Congress was significant during a wider conflict confrontation with the Soviet Union, which supported the Arab countries.
1967
In June of 1967, Israel launched an air assault on Egypt that began the so-called Six-Day War. The conflict, which also involved Jordan and Syria, saw Israel take large swaths of land including the West Bank and Gaza, and therefore the Syrian Golan Heights.
US President Lyndon B Johnson recounted during a 1971 NY Times piece, “I can understand that men might plan to act on their own when hostile forces gather on their frontiers and stop a serious port, and when antagonistic political leaders fill the air with threats to destroy their nation.”
“Nonetheless, I even have never concealed my regret that Israel decided to maneuver when it did. I always made it equally clear, however, to the Russians and each other nation, that I didn't accept the oversimplified charge of Israeli aggression. Arab actions within the weeks before the war started – forcing UN troops out, closing the port of Aqaba and assembling forces on the Israeli border – made that charge ridiculous.”
1948
On May 14, 1948, the top of the Jewish Agency proclaimed the creation of the independent state of Israel because the United Kingdom’s colonial mandate over the territory ended. US President Harry S Truman immediately recognized the new sovereign nation.
“This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof,” read a press release signed by Truman. “The us recognizes the provisional government because of the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.”
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