United States support for Israel in the Gaza war

Following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel and outbreak of the Gaza war, the United States began to send warships and military aircraft into the Eastern Mediterranean and began sending Israel more military supplies.
After an initial period of Western support for the offensive, Israel and the United States became increasingly isolated amid growing worldwide calls for a ceasefire, with the US vetoing three United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. International rights groups have condemned the U.S. for providing military and diplomatic support to Israel that they say risks complicity in Israeli war crimes.
As the war went on, tensions between the Israeli government and the Biden administration began to grow. The US government became more publicly critical of Israel as Palestinian civilian casualties rose and opposition grew. In February 2024, the Biden administration issued a national security directive requiring written assurances from Israel that it was using US-supplied weapons in line with international law. In March 2024, the US began calling for an immediate and sustained ceasefire linked to the release of hostages, and Israel berated the US for allowing a ceasefire resolution to pass at the UN Security Council. The US also voiced its opposition to much of Israel's post-war plan for Gaza. Despite this, however, American weapons transfers to Israel continued moving forward.
After Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the death of 1,139 Israelis, 695 of which were civilians, Israel began a campaign against Gaza. Since the start of the Israeli operation, more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, of whom 52% of identified were women and children. Several thousand more are missing and presumed trapped under rubble. Israel placed Gaza under a complete blockade, including the prevention of fuel and water from entering the Gaza Strip. The United States described Hamas' preemptive attack as "unprovoked," and started sending warships and warplanes into the region, prepared to give Israel whatever it needs. Civil rights groups such as the Center for Constitutional Rights meanwhile called on the government to address the underlying issues that have led to the recent violence, such as Israel's 56-year illegal possession of the Palestinian lands and its 16-year blockade of Gaza as well as "the apartheid regime throughout historic Palestine".
Since Israel's founding in 1948, it has received $158 billion in military aid from the United States, making it the greatest recipient in history. Following Israel's victory over surrounding Arab forces in the 1967 Six-Day War and its subsequent occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, military assistance to the country surged significantly. The Iron Dome, which became operational in 2011, was created with the help of the United States, which is responsible for providing components for the system, including allocating more than $1.5 billion for missile defense for Israel in 2022. As part of a record $38 billion agreement over ten years negotiated under former US President Barack Obama in 2016, US military aid to Israel exceeded $3.8 billion in 2023. Of the $3.8 billion in military aid given to Israel this year, half a billion was for Israel's missile defense. Washington has announced that it will replenish Israel's ammunition used in the recent war against Hamas.
On 28 February 2025, President Trump approved a $3 billion arms sale to Israel, which included 35,500 MK 84 and BLU-117 bombs and 4,000 Predator warheads.
U.S. lawmakers have long viewed Israel as an ally to help protect U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East. Maintaining Israel's regional military hegemony, according to Al-Jazeera, is a central element of U.S. Middle East policy. This has been achieved with U.S. financial aid and an increase in Israel's military arsenal. On the question of why Joe Biden is reluctant to freeze arms transfers or impose conditions on future supplies, Guardian journalist, Robert Tait writes that the US is concerned that pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu could push him towards a common goal with Republicans in a year leading to the election. Josh Paul, who resigned over sending arms to Israel, has described Biden policy in favor of "the status quo of the occupation" and a "shortsighted, destructive, unjust" policy that "will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people — and is not in the long term American interest."
Although the U.S. has asked Israel to protect civilians and allow humanitarian aid, State Secretary Antony Blinken acknowledged that there is "a gap" between these appeals and "the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground". The United States has not used its leverage over Israel—its weapons transfers and diplomatic support—to ensure civilian safety, leading the Washington Post to describe American rhetoric as a "good cop-bad cop approach". Aaron David Miller of the CEIP said that the Biden administration deserved credit for the humanitarian pause negotiations, but that it had "tethered" itself to Israeli war aims that cannot be achieved without bringing "grievous harm to the civilian population".
Ali Harb described the contradictions between media reports about Biden's "frustration" with Netanyahu, and his continued military support for Israel, stating, "The US keeps calling for minimising civilian casualties, but the Palestinian death toll keeps growing. The Biden administration repeatedly emphasises the two-state solution; Israeli leaders continue to explicitly say they oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state." In March 2024, Al Jazeera English senior analyst Marwan Bishara assessed a perceived shift in Biden's tone toward the war, stating, "Biden is underlining a change of tone, not a change of policy. And that explains a bit why he sounds as if he's speaking from both sides of his mouth."
In late-March 2024, Tamer Qarmout, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, stated, "You don't see the US using its real leverage to stop Israel or correct its behaviours." While Republican support for Israel remains strong, many Democrats are debating making future U.S. military aid conditional on Israel's behavior in the West Bank and Gaza. According to Steven A. Cook, for the United States, a more normal bilateral relationship with Israel is likely to reduce the moral costs of military aid. In an op-ed, Elias Khoury argued that the United States's support of Israel "has eroded its international authority and claim to uphold the international rules-based system".
Amidst criticism that Biden's blanket support for Israel's actions had weakened the supposed rules-based order, Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, wrote, "The costs of these new rules of war will be paid with the blood of civilians worldwide for generations to come, and the U.S. responsibility for enabling, defending, and normalizing these new rules, and their horrific, dehumanizing consequences will not be forgotten."
Israel and the United States have become increasingly isolated amid growing global calls for a ceasefire. American political scientist Ian Bremmer stated that the Biden administration's position unconditionally supporting the Israeli invasion of Gaza has left Joe Biden as isolated on the world stage as Russian president Vladimir Putin has been since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Jeffrey Sachs, a professor of economics at Columbia University, also stated that the United States was being isolated on the world stage due to its support for Israel. In March 2024, U.S. senator Bernie Sanders wrote the U.S. was "virtually alone in the world" in continuing to defend Israel's actions as the Palestinian death toll has sparked widespread outrage and protests.
According to some analyses, the US-led ceasefire talks are simply buying more time for Israel's war in Gaza to continue. Following US request to Qatar to expel Hamas from the country, according to the BBC, this is the result of the Biden administration's less influence over Israel, which led them to believe that the best way to force some sort of deal was by putting pressure on Hamas. Writing in Le Monde Diplomatique, Adam Shatz said that Israel had taken advantage of the United States' facilitation of a peace process to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh and Hasan Nasrallah, writing that "Netanyahu helped the Americans to draft a ceasefire proposal he had no intention of honouring, while conspiring to kill the Arab leaders with whom the ceasefire was to be reached."
The Islamic world and much of the Global South accused the United States and its allies of a double standard in condemning an illegal occupation in Ukraine while standing firmly behind Israel. Western leaders, pressed for weeks to say whether the loss of thousands of mostly civilian lives could be a violation of international law, spoke only tentatively, adding that they could not judge: "We're not going to get dragged into all this judge-and-jury role," US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. By comparison, a year earlier the United States Department of State had officially announced that, based on available information, the US government assessed that members of Russia's forces in Ukraine had committed war crimes. The U.S. State Department said there is no need to launch any formal domestic investigation into whether Israel has committed war crimes, even though the weapons it uses are supplied by the US. In a speech to the European Parliament, the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said water cuts are a violation of international law regardless of where they occur, whether in Ukraine or Gaza.
In an interview, Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official, stated to The New Yorker, "Do I think that Joe Biden has the same depth of feeling and empathy for the Palestinians of Gaza as he does for the Israelis? No, he doesn’t". In April 2024, the Foreign Ministry of Turkey accused the U.S. of having a "double-standard policy on human rights". Barry Trachtenberg, a professor at Wake Forest University, criticized Western support of Israeli military actions, stating, "What we’re seeing is this clear double-standard where when it’s in the interests of the United States and Western allies, they’ll invoke international law. When it’s not in their interests, they’ll clearly violate international law". In July 2024, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez spoke at the NATO summit in Washington D.C., urging the West to stop its "double standards" between Gaza and Ukraine.
After Israel killed the American peace activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank, another American activist who was shot by Israeli forces wrote an editorial in Time magazine, stating, "Earlier this year, President Joe Biden said that 'if you harm an American, we will respond.' Yet the Biden Administration has not even condemned my attack." The families of Americans killed by Israel also stated that the Department of Justice had failed to investigate their relatives' deaths. According to a leaked letter, Department of Justice attorneys requested Attorney General Merrick Garland to "investigate potential violations of U.S. law by Israel’s government, military, and citizenry, and hold the perpetrators to account."
Human rights organizations and UN officials have heavily criticized the Biden administration for vetoing multiple UN resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire and for continuing to send arms to Israel. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the US was complicit in war crimes, and Amnesty International's Secretary General said that the veto showed that the US "displays a callous disregard for civilian suffering in the face of a staggering death toll". Doctors Without Borders said that the veto "stands in sharp contrast to the values it professes to uphold," and that the US was providing "diplomatic cover for the ongoing atrocities in Gaza". Human Rights Watch said that the veto and the military support "risks complicity in war crimes". Following the veto, a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a ceasefire garnered overwhelming support, with 153 countries voting for the resolution to 10 opposed. Turkey's president called for reform of the UN Security Council system that allows for the five permanent members to veto resolutions supported by the overwhelming majority of countries.
Polling by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies showed 94 percent of respondents in sixteen Middle East countries had a negative view of U.S. policy in the war and 76 percent had a diminished view of the country due to its policies. In a social media post, the Palestine UN mission criticized the US secretary of state for not acknowledging the tens of thousands of killed Palestinians in his post marking the 100 days since the start of the war.
On 4 February 2024, Irish MEP Mick Wallace accused the United States of lacking respect for other cultures or international law after it initiated a bombing campaign against Yemen. Following a US veto of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, Zhang Jun, China's ambassador to the UN, stated it was "nothing different from giving the green light to the continued slaughter".
On October 29, 2023, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), accused Israel of committing genocide, saying, "President Biden, not all America is with you on this one, and you need to wake up and understand. We are literally watching people commit genocide." Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) stated on December 27, 2023, that U.S. policy in Israel had failed. Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) stated on January 3, 2024, that Israeli officials' statements calling for the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza were "reprehensible". Tlaib and Congressman Cori Bush (D-MO) released a joint statement on January 12 in support of the South Africa International Court of Justice case, stating, "The US must stop trying to discredit and undermine this case and the international legal system it claims to support." Congressmembers Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Val Hoyle (D-OR) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) condemned Biden's 2024 missile strikes in Yemen on January 12, stating that only Congress has the power to approve a war. A January 19 letter from 60 Democratic Congressmembers urged U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken to firmly condemn the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. A group of a dozen Jewish Congressmembers issued a statement on January 19 condemning Netanyahu's opposition to a Palestinian state, which read, "We strongly disagree with the Prime Minister. A two-state solution is the path forward."
Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett wrote on January 24: "After all America has done for him, if Netanyahu 'needs to be able to say no' to us, we need to say no to him and do so now!" On January 24, a group of five Congressmembers requested the Government Accountability Office to review whether arms transferred to Israel were being used to violate international law. Mark Pocan (D-WI) criticized Biden's decision to suspend funding to UNRWA, stating on January 29: "UNRWA feeds 1.2 million people a day, as well as helps distribute aid now to all Palestinians in need. Aid needs to be restored now to help the displaced millions in Gaza." Chuy Garcia (D-IL) stated that the "decision to freeze UNRWA funding" should be reversed. On February 11, 2024, Congresswoman Cori Bush criticized Israel's impending invasion of Rafah, stating, "Almost half of Gaza's population has taken refuge in Rafah. There's nowhere else to go." Congressman Ro Khanna also criticized Biden's response to Israel's planned attack on Rafah, stating, "This is not the time for vague generalities about doing more to protect civilian life."
On February 28, U.S. congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA) called for an end to the war and condemned Netanyahu, stating, "Prime Minister Netanyahu's dishonesty – his broken promises to use precision strikes to protect civilians and his false claims that safe zones have been created and enforced – is unacceptable". A group of two dozen House members demanded Biden and Blinken take steps to ensure journalists' safety in Gaza, stating: "Not enough steps have been taken to safeguard the lives of the civilian population in Gaza, including journalists". On February 29, Congressman Jim McGovern called for the U.S. to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, stating, "Massive humanitarian support is needed to save innocent lives." A group of six U.S. House representatives – Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Sean Casten (D-IL), Madeleine Dean, Becca Balint (D-VT), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), and Mark Takano (D-CA) – returned from a trip to Israel and released a joint statement, saying, "We are deeply worried that Prime Minister Netanyahu is moving toward the total destruction of Gaza and has demonstrated an utter disregard for Palestinian lives". Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) stated in May 2024, "We are way past the red line. We cannot continue supporting this."
In October 2024, a group of several dozen House Democrats signed a letter to the Biden Administration, urging tougher accountability regarding press access to the Gaza Strip.
On November 2, 2023, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) became the first U.S. senator to call for a permanent ceasefire. He was followed by Jeff Merkley (D-OR) later that same month. On December 23, 2023, US senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), stated, "There's a big gap between what the United States says is essential, and what the Netanyahu government is prepared to do. And when you see these big gaps, the United States looks feckless." US senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) criticized Biden's emergency sale of weapons to Israel on December 30, 2023, stating, "Why should the Admin bypass Congress on arms sales to any nation? Bypassing Congress = keeping the American public in the dark." U.S. senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) forced a vote on January 17, 2024, on a resolution requiring the State Department to explore whether U.S. weapons were being used to violate international humanitarian law.
On February 7, 2024, U.S. senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) stated he would support an amendment requiring weapons sold internationally to be used in compliance with U.S. law, international humanitarian law, and the laws of armed conflict. In a speech on February 13, Senator Chris Van Hollen accused the Israeli government of committing war crimes in Gaza, stating, "Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals." On March 9, Senator Bernie Sanders criticized members of Congress, stating, "It is absurd to criticise Netanyahu's war in one breath and provide another $10bn to continue that war in the next." On April 29, Senator Van Hollen of Maryland there was "serious doubt on the integrity of the process in the Biden administration for reviewing whether the Netanyahu government is complying with international law in Gaza".
In May 2024, Bernie Sanders asked how the U.S. would be able to criticize other countries' human rights abuses if it ignored the "crimes against humanity" committed in Gaza. In June 2024, Senator Chris Van Hollen urged sanctions against Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich during a U.S. congressional subcommittee meeting.
In January 2024, a letter was signed by more than a dozen Biden campaign staffers calling for condition of US support to Israel and a ceasefire. Paul told The Guardian that the administration is witnessing "pretty extraordinary levels of dissent". On 2 February 2024, a group of 800 U.S. and European officials signed an open letter stating their governments' policies were weakening their nations' "moral standing". Following the World Central Kitchen drone strikes on 1 April 2024, internal dissent within the Biden administration on the issue of weapons sales to Israel increased.
During a February 2024 meeting between U.S. diplomats, humanitarian workers, and USAID director Samantha Power, staff were reportedly "visibly upset" with the administration's policy, with some wearing keffiyehs in protest and others breaking down into tears.
By 7 January 2024, two officials from the Biden administration—Josh Paul and Tariq Habash, working on arms sale at the State Department and policy adviser at the Department of Education respectively—had resigned in opposition to US support to Israel's war efforts. In March 2024, another State Department staffer working on human rights, Anelle Sheline, resigned over the administration's support to the war, in particular its bypassing of Congress to authorize the sale of weapons to Israel. In April 2024, the U.S. State Department Arabic spokesperson resigned in protest of the administration's Gaza policy. In May 2024, Lily Greenberg Call, the special assistant to the Interior Department's chief of staff, resigned in protest of Biden's Gaza policies. On 30 May, a senior State Department official resigned, stating U.S. statements that Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza were false. In June 2024, the twelve public Biden administration resignees signed a joint statement calling Biden's Gaza policy "a failure and a threat to U.S. national security". In July 2024, a political appointee in the Department of the Interior resigned in protest of Biden's Gaza policies.
On February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old serviceman of the United States Air Force, died after setting himself on fire outside the front gate of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., declaring that he would "no longer be complicit in genocide".
In May 2024, US Army Major Harrison Mann resigned in protest of Biden's Gaza policies. In June 2024, an Air Force engineer resigned in protest of the United States' "complicit[ity] in the genocide in Gaza". Later the same month, two U.S. Air Force enlistees stated they were seeking conscientious objector status due to the United States' support for Israel's action in Gaza.
Amongst the Muslim and Arab American communities, there was strong backlash to US support of Israel, with some vowing to abstain from supporting Biden in the 2024 presidential election. Palestinian-Americans with family in Gaza were reportedly "pleading with the U.S. government to evacuate their family members". Some, including former-Congressman Justin Amash, reported the death of family members from Israeli airstrikes. American citizens stuck in Gaza also criticized the United States government's response to the conflict. In a meeting with Biden's campaign chair Julie Chávez Rodriguez, the publisher of Arab American News reportedly told her, "If this man wants our vote, he has to do more than Jesus Christ – bring a lot more dead back to life. Thousands of people's blood is on his hands." In response to late-February 2024 reports that Biden again planned to veto a UN resolution for a ceasefire, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights stated, "Our government is beyond evil."
During the Michigan Democratic primary, Biden received less than a quarter of the vote in predominantly Arab areas in Dearborn. In 2024, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud declined an invitation to meet with Biden campaign officials prior to the 2024 United States presidential election, due to the Biden administration's stance on the Israel-Hamas war. On Super Tuesday, nearly 20% of voters in Minnesota voted uncommitted in protest of Biden's Gaza policies. In March 2024, a coalition of Muslim and Palestinian organizations from Chicago refused a meeting with the Biden campaign, stating, "There is no point in more meetings".
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on November 15, 2023, 32% of respondents said that the U.S. should support Israel, 39% said that the U.S. should be a neutral mediator, 4% said that the U.S. should support Palestinians, and 15% said the U.S. shouldn't be involved at all.
In a Gallup poll released on November 30, 2023, 50% of the U.S. respondents approved of Israel's military action in Gaza, and 45% disapproved. In November 2023, the Jewish Election Institute found that 74% of Jewish American registered voters approved of the Biden administration's handling of the war.
In a Data for Progress poll released on December 5, 2023, 61% of likely voters, including a majority of Democrats (76%) and Independents (57%) and a plurality of Republicans (49%), supported the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza; 83% of Democrats, 74% of Independents, and 63% of Republicans supported sending food, water, and medical supplies to people in Gaza; 77% of Democrats, 63% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans supported ensuring that people in Gaza have reliable access to fuel and electricity; and 63% of voters, including 65% of those under age 45, agreed with the statement that “The U.S. should hold its ally Israel to a high standard and only provide military aid to Israel if they meet our standards for human rights."
In a New York Times/Siena College poll released on December 19, 2023, 44 percent of voters said that Israel should stop its military campaign to protect against civilian casualties, and 39 percent said that Israel should continue its military campaign even if it means that civilian casualties in Gaza mount. 57% of voters said that they disapproved of President Biden's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whereas 33% approved.
In an Economist/YouGov poll released on January 24, 2024, 35% of U.S. adults agreed that Israel's military campaign against Palestinians amounts to genocide, 36% disagreed, and 29% were undecided. Among U.S. citizens aged 18–29, 49% of those surveyed agreed that Israel is committing genocide, with 24% disagreeing, and 27% uncertain.
In an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released on February 2, 2024, 50% of U.S. adults said that the military response from Israel in the Gaza Strip had gone too far, whereas 31% said that it had "been about right", and 15% thought that it had "not gone far enough".
As of February 25, 2024, over 70 cities in the United States have voted for a ceasefire.
In a Gallup poll released on March 4, 2024, positive opinions of Israel had dropped from 64% to 38% amongst young people aged 18 to 34. Overall, 58% of Americans had a positive view of Israel.
In a Center for Economic and Policy Research poll released on March 5, 2024, 52% of U.S. citizens supported ending arms transfers to Israel. 62% of Democrats supported halting arms sales, while 14% disagreed, whereas 30% of Republicans supported the measure, and 55% opposed it.
In a Gallup poll released on March 27, 2024, 55% of the responders disapproved of Israel's military action in Gaza, 36% approved, and 9% had no opinion.
In a Data for Progress poll, in collaboration with Zeteo, released on May 8, 2024, 83% of Democrats, 56% of Republicans, and 70% of all likely voters supported the United States calling for a permanent ceasefire a de-escalation of violence in Gaza; 56% of Democrats, 23% of Republicans, and 39% of all likely voters believed that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, with 22% of Democrats, 19% of Republicans, and 23% of all likely voters being uncertain regarding the issue; and 55% of Democrats, 36% of Republicans, and 46% of all likely voters said that they disapprove of college campuses limiting students' rights and abilities to protest against Israel's military operations, whereas 32% of Democrats, 49% of Republicans, and 40% of all likely voters approved of doing so.
A YouGov poll released on May 21, 2024, and conducted in the key swing states Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with a highly representative sample of 500 registered Democratic and Independent voters, found that between 74.1% and 82.8% of the respondents supported an immediate and permanent ceasefire, depending on the state, and that between 19.2% and 24.2% of the respondents are less likely to vote for Biden in the 2024 United States presidential election because of his handling of the war in Gaza. Over 40% of the polled voters in each state stated that the combination of imposing a lasting ceasefire and conditioning aid to Israel would make them more likely to vote for Biden.
A CBS News poll released on June 9, 2024, found that 61 percent of all Americans think that the United States should not send weapons and supplies to Israel, including 77 percent of Democrats and nearly 40 percent of Republicans.
According to a Data for Progress poll released on June 12, 2024, 64% of all likely voters, including 86% of Democrats, 64% of Independents, 62% of swing voters, and 43% of Republicans supported Joe Biden's proposed ceasefire deal in Gaza, with the specifics: "A complete ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The release of Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. A surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza and starting a 3-5 year reconstruction plan for the region, backed by the United States, Europe, and international institutions". The survey also found a 53% sum total majority support for withdrawing military aid from Israel if it rejected the ceasefire proposal, including 70% of Democrats, 51% of Independents, 53% of swing voters, and 35% of Republicans, with 36% being against it.
According to a Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll released on August 6, 2024, and conducted online between June 21 and July 1, 55% of all sum total respondents oppose using US troops to defend Israel if it is attacked by a neighboring country, whereas 41% support it.
Some Israeli government members believed that Biden's support for Israel was not strong enough. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Israel's Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir stated, "Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel [to Gaza], which goes to Hamas. If Trump was in power, the U.S. conduct would be completely different." Israel's Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich stated Biden was involved in an anti-Semitic lie for issuing sanctions against violent West Bank settlers. Following comments by Biden in March 2024 that Israel's killing of civilians was "hurting Israel more than helping", the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu stated this was "false" and "wrong". After a speech by Chuck Schumer calling for new elections after the war, Likud released a statement, saying, "Senator Schumer is expected to respect Israel's elected government and not undermine it. This is always true and even more so in wartime."
On 27 March, Ben-Gvir stated, "Biden prefers the line of Rashida Tlaib and Sinwar to the line of Benjamin Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir. I would have expected the president of the United States not to take their line, but rather to take ours." Following reports the U.S. was considering sanctions against an IDF unit charged with human rights abuses, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the sanctions the "height of absurdity and a moral low". Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli stated, "If I were an American citizen with the right to vote, I’d vote for Trump and Republicans". In response to the Biden administration stating it was considering halting weapons transfers to Israel for its Rafah offensive, Ben-Gvir tweeted, "Hamas loves Biden". In June 2024, Netanyahu criticized the Biden administration for what he called a "dramatic drop" in weapons deliveries.
Senior Israeli officials stated that Donald Trump's campaign promise to quickly end the war in Gaza would cause challenges for the Israeli government if he were to win the 2024 election, due to Israel's "internal political constraints to ending the war quickly".
The United Nations General Assembly on 27 October 2023 voted a non-binding resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire to enable relief to enter Gaza; the United States stood with Israel in rejecting the proposal. The previous week, Washington had vetoed a resolution similar to this one at the more powerful UN Security Council. Email correspondence between the Pentagon and White House in October 2023, however, showed U.S. officials were concerned about the risk of Israeli war crimes.
Democratic congressman Andre Carson of Indiana wrote to The Guardian, accusing Israel of "war crimes" and citing the Israeli Defence Forces' (IDF) alleged use of white phosphorus and this week's deadly bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp. "I am very concerned that our taxpayer dollars may be used for violations of human rights," Carson wrote. The Biden administration declared earlier that week that it was not imposing any restrictions on Israel's use of the US-supplied weapons. According to Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh, "That is really up to the Israel Defense Force to use in how they are going to conduct their operations... But we’re not putting any constraints on that."
Like Carson, Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, particularly mentioned the alleged use of white phosphorus, as asserted by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), as a violation that should bar Israel from getting aid from the US. "Deployment of white phosphorus near populated civilian areas is a war crime," she said.
Following reports that the U.S. State Department had not found Israel's assurances of following international law credible, William Hartung wrote that State Department staffers' "desires to align U.S. actions with U.S.and international law have been firmly rebuffed by the Biden administration’s leadership team". In August 2024, the Quincy Institute published a list of twenty instances in which Israel used U.S. weapons to commit likely war crimes. Bryan Finucane warned the U.S. could be complicit if Israel used its weapons to commit war crimes.
Some scholars believe that America is complicit in an alleged genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinians. Lawyers of the Center for Constitutional Rights warned the Biden administration that they could be held liable "for their failure to prevent Israel's unfolding genocide, as well as for their complicity, by encouraging it and materially supporting it". In November 2023, president Joe Biden was nicknamed "Genocide Joe" by critics of his support for Israel. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, described by Israeli media outlet Ynet as "an exceptionally accomplished Israeli advocate," said "Israel's trying to defend itself against a genocidal terrorist threat. So if we're going to start using that word, fine, let's use it appropriately." While suing Joe Biden as the largest provider of military aid to Israel, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) argued that "the United States has the means available to have a deterrent effect on Israeli officials now pursuing genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza." In a declaration in the lawsuit, Genocide scholar William Schabas said that in his view there was a "serious risk of genocide" and that the US was "in breach of its obligation" under the 1948 Genocide Convention and international law. Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic representative of Michigan, accused Joe Biden of supporting the "genocide of the Palestinian people".
Following the veto of another resolution in the UN Council on December 8, 2023, international human rights organizations issued the following statement: "By continuing to provide Israel with weapons [and] diplomatic cover as it commits atrocities, including collectively punishing the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, the US risks complicity in war crimes."
During an August 2024 meeting with humanitarian aid organizations, U.S. diplomat Lise Grande reportedly responded to concerns about Israel's international humanitarian law violations by responding that Israel was too close an ally for the United States to cease sending weapons. In September 2024, a ProPublica investigation found that USAID and other agencies found that Israel had deliberately blocked humanitarian aid, but that the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had rejected their findings.
On December 14, 2023, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a privileged resolution invoking Section 502(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act, calling on the State Department to investigate Israeli crimes against humanity in its conduct of the war in Gaza. Sanders said that "This resolution is not prescriptive — it does not alter aid to Israel in any way. It simply requests that the State Department report on how our aid is being used." The resolution would freeze US military aid to Israel unless the State Department issues a report within 30 days. The proposal was defeated, 72 to 11, with only Sanders and Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley, Chris Van Hollen, Martin Heinrich, Laphonza Butler, Ed Markey, Ben Ray Luján, Mazie Hirono, Peter Welch and Elizabeth Warren and Republican Rand Paul voting for it. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) voiced support for the resolution. Among the senators who voted against the resolution were Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tom Carper (D-DE), Mike Braun (R-IN), Bob Casey (D-PA), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Independent Angus King of Maine and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) opposed the resolution. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that resolution "would be a gift to Hamas, a gift to Iran".
Democrats argue that the $14.3 billion package the White House has promised Israel violates the Leahy Act because most of the victims of Israel's attacks on Gaza are civilians. The act forbids the US State and Defence departments from providing security support to foreign governments that are suspected of violating human rights. The act's proponents refer to the increasing number of Gaza residents losing their lives as a result of military operations, the forced relocation of over a million people, and the escalating humanitarian situation following Israeli authorities' cuts to the region's supplies of fuel, food, water, and electricity. A group of top U.S. House Democrats urged the president to enforce the Leahy Laws.
Usamah Andrabi, Justice Democrats' director of communications – said “I think the Leahy Act should absolutely be looked into right now, when we are seeing gross violations of human rights,” he said. “[The Israelis] are targeting refugee camps, hospitals, mosques all under the guise of self-defense or that one or other member of Hamas is hiding there. It doesn't matter whether Hamas is there or not, because you are targeting civilians. No amount of tax dollars should be justified for that.”
Charles O. Blaha, the former director of the State Department's Office of Security and Human Rights, wrote in Just Security, stating that the U.S. secretary of state's decision not to issue sanctions on the IDF's Netzah Yehuda Battalion appeared to be "directly contrary to the Leahy law". Stacy Gilbert, a former-State Department official, stated, "It is widely known and documented in the humanitarian community and the US government that Israel has been blocking humanitarian assistance since the start of the Gaza conflict".
Raed Jarrar, director of advocacy at DAWN, an American nonprofit that fights for democracy and human rights in the Arab world, supported Palestinians who sued the State Department over US aid to the Israeli military, and called on the government to follow the Leahy law.
On 30 October 2023, AIPAC, a leading pro-Israel lobbying group, issued a public critique of the members of Congress who voted against House Resolution 771, which expressed support for Israel. In response, Republican Thomas Massie defended his vote by saying he objected to a broad "open-ended promise of military support," while Democrats Cori Bush, Mark Pocan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused AIPAC of harming US democracy. On November 1, Ilhan Omar accused AIPAC of running Islamophobic ads against her. On November 2, Rashida Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, was the target of a $100,000 TV ad campaign by the Democratic Majority for Israel.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives on December 5 passed a resolution that included language that said the House "clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism". The resolution also condemned the slogan "From the river to the sea," for which Tlaib was censured on November 5. Analysis from The Guardian showed that congress members who were supportive of Israel from the war's start had received an average of $100,000 more from pro-Israel donors than their pro-Palestinian colleagues. Analysis of Federal Election Commission filings showed House Speaker Mike Johnson received $95,000 from AIPAC.
In March 2024, a group of 20 progressive political organizations formed an anti-AIPAC coalition to push back against the lobbyist group's influence on U.S. politics. In response to comments by Senator Chuck Schumer that Israel needed new elections to replace Netanyahu, J Street stated the speech "signals a historic shift from those in the Democratic party who care deeply about Israel's future". Haaretz found that hundreds of fake social media accounts were targeting Democratic Party lawmakers with messages repeating Israeli government accusations relating to UNRWA and Hamas. Haaretz found Israel targeted U.S. lawmakers with an influence campaign, primarily focused on Black politicians. In July 2024, a group of more than 30 human rights organizations requested the Biden administration investigate these influence campaigns. Politico found that AIPAC was the largest source of Republican donors' money spent in 2024 Democratic primary races.
In an early June 2024 interview by the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Republican U.S. Representative Thomas Massie stated that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has designated representatives assigned to each Republican member of Congress to ensure that the lawmakers vote for bills that Israel supports. He also questioned why the lobby group and their representatives are not required to register as foreign agents, which would be the case for those advocating on behalf of all other countries.
The Biden administration caused controversy after bypassing Congress on multiple occasions to authorize arms sales to the Israeli military. Unlike the United States' military support for Ukraine, details of weapons sent to Israel have been vague. Leaked details have shown that the U.S. has sent laser-guided missiles, 155mm shells, new army vehicles, among others, at Israel's request. According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University, the United States spent $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel from October 2023 to October 2024.
In December 2023, the WSJ report stated that US arms shipments to Israel since the start of the war included 15,000 bombs and 57,000 155mm artillery shells. The United States also delivered 100 BLU-109 bunker buster bombs, 5,000 unguided Mk82 bombs, more than 5,400 Mk84 bombs, about 1,000 small diameter GBU-39 bombs, and approximately 3,000 JDAM guidance kits.
An investigation by The Guardian found the U.S. government was using special mechanisms to protect Israel from domestic human rights laws to continue sending weapons. Following a trip to Washington D.C. in June 2024, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant addressed Israeli complaints about slowed arms transfers, stating, "Obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed". A report by ProPublica found the U.S. State Department had ignored reports about potential human rights violations by the Israeli army to continue weapons transfers to Israel. Current and former State Department officials stated there were more than 500 reports of Israel using U.S. weapons to cause "unnecessary harm to civilians" in the Gaza Strip, but that no action had yet been taken on any of the reports.
Unnamed officials stated in March 2024 that the U.S. had signed off on an additional 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs. In May 2024, Israel used two U.S. made GBU-39 missiles during the Tel al-Sultan massacre. In June 2024, two U.S. officials stated the United States had transferred ten thousand 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles to Israel since 7 October. In late-June 2024, an Israeli official stated the Biden administration would soon transfer a delayed shipment of 500 pound bombs to Israel. In mid-July 2024, a U.S. official confirmed that the United States was resuming its transfers of 500 pound bombs to Israel.
In August 2024, the Biden administration approved a $20 billion arms sale to Israel, including F-15 fighter jets and tank and mortar shells. The United States approved a $165 million sale of military tank trailers, including replacement parts, tool kits, and logistics support.
Josh Paul, a senior State Department official specializing in arms transfers, resigned after stating the U.S. government continues to sell weapons to Israel despite its record of human rights abuses.
"Direct action" tactics were adopted against arms companies in the United States that supplied arms to Israel, including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Textron, Boeing, L3Harris, Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman.
War protesters on university campuses are calling for universities to withdraw any funding from arms manufacturers and companies linked to the Israeli military, including Cisco, Caterpillar and General Electric.
A group of seven U.S. senators stated that the Biden administration was in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act, which stipulates that weapons cannot be transferred to governments blocking humanitarian assistance. Senator Chris Van Hollen called on Biden to cease weapons transfers, stating, "We need the president and the Biden administration to push harder and to use all the levers of US policy to ensure people don't die of starvation".
In June 2024, the NAACP called on the Biden administration to stop sending weapons to Israel.
In July 2024, a group of U.S. doctors and nurses returning from Gaza stated they had witnessed widespread war crimes committed by the Israeli army and called on the United States to implement an arms embargo. In October 2024, a majority of all American doctors who had volunteered in Gaza in the prior year signed a letter to the Biden administration calling for an arms embargo. Later the same month, the editorial board of the Financial Times called for an U.S. arms embargo on Israel, stating, "Biden has the tools to rein in Netanyahu. He must halt the offensive arms sales to Israel that enable its relentless bombing of Gaza and Lebanon."
The United States has provided naval and aerial support to Israel on multiple occasions since October 2023. In April 2024, U.S. fighter jets, along with the U.K., France, and Jordan, shot down Iranian drones and missiles directed at Israel. In June 2024, the United States sent the USS Wasp and its marines aboard to serve as a deterrent to Hezbollah in its conflict with Israel. In August 2024, the United States deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, equipped with stealth F-35C Lightning II combat jets, and the ballistic missile submarine USS Georgia, to Israel.
In October 2024, the United States deployed the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, along with 100 U.S. troops to Israel. That same month, an investigation using available open source data found that U.S. aircraft were responsible for 33 percent of reconnaissance flights, providing Israel with intelligence on ground movements in the Gaza Strip. In November 2024, the United States ordered ballistic missile defense destroyers, a fighter squadron, tanker aircraft, and Air Force B-52 long-range strike bombers to "make clear" to Iran that the U.S. would "take every measure necessary to defend" its interests in the region.
In response to the United States's involvement, U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush wrote a letter to the Biden Administration asking for an explanation as to the country's participation in Israel's military engagements and suggesting such collaboration was unauthorized and unconstitutional.
The "Antisemitism Awareness Act", spearheaded by the Republicans but also backed by many Democrats, passed the United States House of Representatives in a 320–91 vote on May 1, 2024, and proceeded to the Senate. The bill is intended to add the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's approved working definition of antisemitism to title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits "exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits of, and discrimination under federally assisted programs on ground of race, color, or national origin". Democratic representative Sara Jacobs, who is Jewish, said she opposed the bill because "it fails to effectively address the very real rise of antisemitism, all while defunding colleges and universities across the country and punishing many, if not all, of the non-violent protestors speaking out against the Israeli military’s conduct."
The proposed legislation would broaden the legal definition of antisemitism to include Anti-Zionism, criticism of the policies of the state of Israel, and concerns about Palestinian human rights, categorizing all of them as hate speech. It has been criticized for conflating "Judaism with Zionism in assuming that all Jews are Zionists". It faces strong opposition from several Democratic lawmakers, Jewish organizations, and free speech advocates, including more than 800 Jewish U.S. academics, who signed a letter calling on Biden not to sign the bill. Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the centrist pro-Israel group J Street, said that his organization opposes the bill because it is an "unserious" effort led by Republicans "to continually force votes that divide the Democratic caucus on an issue that shouldn’t be turned into a political football". The American Civil Liberties Union meanwhile sees the bill as an attack on First Amendment rights and argues that its "overbroad" definition of antisemitism "could result in colleges and universities suppressing a wide variety of speech critical of Israel or in support of Palestinian rights in an effort to avoid investigations by the Department [of Education] and the potential loss of funding".
Some far-right Republicans have criticized the bill saying it could make antisemitic tropes attributed to the New Testament such as Jewish deicide illegal, with figures such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz chastising it as a free speech violation on that basis.
Organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and Conference of Presidents have praised the bill, but hundreds of Israeli and international civil society organizations have opposed it saying the IHRA definition was not meant to be used as a basis for law.