WASHINGTON
In the one year since Hamas led a cross-border attack on Israel that sparked a deadly onslaught on the already besieged Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden has remained steadfast in his “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security above all else.
Below are nine events that have defined the American president’s handling of the Gaza conflict as it has spiraled, and brought with it an inferno that increasingly risks consuming the region.
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) October 4, 2024
Biden says he saw photos of babies beheaded in Hamas’ attack, White House walks back comments
Just eight days after the cross-border raid on Israel that resulted in the death of an estimated 1,189 people, the majority of whom were civilians, Biden said he saw photographic evidence that members of Hamas beheaded babies that day.
The president’s comments appeared to corroborate now disproven allegations made during an Israeli military-curated tour of the southern illegal settlement of Kfar Aza.
“I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,” the president said in remarks delivered from the White House on Oct. 11.
The White House quickly walked back the comments, stipulating neither the president nor his officials had seen the purported photos, and maintaining that Biden was referring to public comments made by Israeli officials.
But the uncle of six-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al Fayoume, who was killed in Plainfield, Illinois a few days later in what authorities say was a hate-fueled murder, blamed Biden’s comments in part for the gruesome stabbing.
Yousef Hannon said the president's comments were a major blow to the Palestinian community, and said the statement he issued condemning the attack that claimed his nephew’s life was insufficient.
“Thank you, Mr. President, but this is not enough. What’s happening? Your words make big damage. That has to be changed,” he said. “You should say, ‘Oh, I was mistaken. There were no children being beheaded.”
US announces international coalition aimed at halting attacks from Yemen’s Houthis
The Biden administration announced in December the formation of an international coalition to thwart attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Israeli-linked commercial ships operating in the Red Sea, which it said were intended to pressure Israel into ending its war on Gaza.
In announcing Operation Prosperity Guardian on Dec. 18, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rebuked the Houthis for their “reckless” attacks, saying they threaten “the free flow of commerce,” endanger mariners and violate international law.
The US and UK would launch strikes on the Houthis on Feb. 4, backed by the international coalition. But the rebels have not only continued their attacks in defiance of the military alliance, but have escalated them to include ballistic missile attacks on Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv.
US asks Israel to investigate itself over killing of Hind Rajab in oft-repeated mantra
The brutal Jan. 29 killing of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in the northern Gaza Strip focused international attention on a war that has seen no shortage of gruesome massacres.
The child was killed by an Israeli tank crew alongside six of her family members as she phoned emergency personnel from a car in Tel al-Hawa. The recording of Rajab’s call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society showcased the grim realities of the brutal conditions that many Palestinians continue to endure in Gaza.
“Please get me out of here,” she said in desperate pleas for an ambulance to be dispatched during the three-hour call.
Her body, in addition to those of her relatives, was found in their bullet-hole-strewn car 10 days after Israeli troops withdrew from the area. The bodies of two paramedics dispatched by the Palestine Red Crescent Society to save Rajab, Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, were found nearby.
They were shot shortly after arriving on the scene.
“I’m not on the ground; I can’t offer any kind of assessment about this. It’s why we’ve called for the government of Israel to conduct an investigation,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on June 24 after an independent analysis by the Forensic Architecture research group concluded that Rajab, her family, and the paramedics were likely killed by Israeli tank fire.
But the US insistence that Israel should investigate itself has not been limited to Rajab’s case. It has been echoed repeatedly, with the Biden administration rejecting the need for any independent probes into Israel's prosecution of its war.
Biden orders military to construct short-lived pier despite warnings
As part of his yearly State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, Biden announced his decision to order the US military to construct a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to work around Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day. But Israel must also do its part. Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the crossfire,” he said on March 7.
Neither the “massive increase,” nor Israel’s acquiescence to the demands would materialize, however.
The $230 million pier was open for just over a couple of weeks after it became active on May 17, its operations mired by repeated fiascos as strong seas tore it asunder, leaving components beached on Gaza’s shores by May 28.
The US military announced the end of the pier’s mission on July 17, declaring it "complete" after a series of disasters led to the pier being repeatedly towed to an Israeli port for repairs.
A watchdog report published by the Office of the Inspector General of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said Biden overrode internal warnings that focusing on the pier, "would detract from the Agency’s advocacy to open land crossings in Israel and Egypt," which were deemed to be "more efficient and proven avenues for delivering aid to Gaza."
The pier was functional for just 20 of the planned 90 days it was to be in use, the watchdog said, noting it fell "short of meeting the U.S. government’s goal of providing enough aid to feed 500,000 people per month, or 1.5 million people over 3 months."
Ultimately, only enough food to feed 450,000 people for a month was delivered.
Biden demands Israel do more to prevent attacks on aid workers after strikes on World Central Kitchen convoy
Repeated Israeli airstrikes on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy killed seven aid workers on April 1. The attack, which took place in the immediate aftermath of a ruling from the International Court of Justice ordering Israel to ensure the “unhindered provision at scale” of humanitarian aid, prompted a rare stern rebuke from Biden.
“I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday. They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war,” the president said in a statement, calling on Israel to carry out a “swift” probe that leads to accountability.
“Even more tragically, this is not a stand-alone incident. This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult — because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” he said.
The criticism stands as some of the harshest that Biden has had for Israel during the course of its one-year war, likely due in no small part to the fact that World Central Kitchen’s founder, celebrity chef Jose Andres, is a prominent Democrat.
But Israel has continued to attack aid workers, hitting the UN and other organizations in the six months since. One of the most recent incidents transpired when a clearly marked UN convoy working to distribute polio vaccines was held up at gunpoint by Israeli forces at a checkpoint on Sept. 10.
Shots were fired and an Israeli military bulldozer rammed the UN vehicles.
In August, the UN World Food Programme halted its operations after 10 bullets struck one of its vehicles as it approached a different Israeli checkpoint. An Israeli airstrike also killed four Palestinians working as part of an aid convoy organized by Anera, an American non-profit, on Aug. 30.
Biden rallies regional, European allies to defend Israel during Iranian attack
Iran retaliated against Israel on April 13 for a deadly strike on its embassy in Damascus that killed senior military leaders, launching an unprecedented ballistic missile and drone attack on Israel and defying warnings previously issued by the US president.
Nearly all of the 300 projectiles launched were intercepted by Israeli and allied warplanes and air defense systems outside of the country’s borders in actions coordinated by the Biden administration. As part of the effort, Washington deployed additional warplanes and ballistic missile destroyers to the region.
"Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles," Biden said.
Anti-war students erect Gaza encampment at Columbia, setting stage for national protests
Anti-war protests against Israel’s offensive on Gaza had been ongoing on college campuses for months, but the April 17 decision by students at Columbia University to erect an encampment at the New York City campus served as a flashpoint in the wider movement.
Shortly after the school's President Minouche Shafik quickly asked the New York Police Department to dismantle the site on April 18, officers clad in riot gear swept through campus, arresting roughly 100 students and enflaming the national protest movement.
Another encampment was quickly established at Columbia, as the sites spread to universities nationwide with students demanding their schools condemn Tel Aviv's war and divest from Israel.
Administrators at several universities worked to forcibly clear the encampments, threatening students with suspension and arrest if they failed to disband.
Biden warns Israel against major Rafah invasion, threatening conditions on arms
Over a million Palestinians had sought refuge in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as war consumed the rest of the coastal territory, resulting in widespread displacement of nearly all of Gaza’s over 2 million residents.
The city had served as a critical aid hub, as well as a refuge, before Israel ground forces invaded it on May 6.
Biden warned Tel Aviv against carrying out such an attack akin to what it did elsewhere in the largely destroyed Palestinian enclave, warning he would stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if it did so.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” he said.
Israel proceeded with its invasion undeterred, destroying or damaging some 44% of all buildings in Rafah, according to satellite imagery analyzed by the Decentralized Damage Mapping Group.
No meaningful restrictions were ever imposed on the supply of US weapons to Israel.
Biden turns down requests for independent investigation into Israeli killing of Turkish American Aysenur Eygi
The White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by Israel’s Sept. 6 killing of Turkish American peace activist Aysenur Eygi, requesting that Israel carry out an investigation into her death, but has so far rejected requests for an independent probe.
Eygi, 26, a dual Turkish-US national, was killed by Israeli forces on Sept. 6 during a peaceful protest against illegal Israeli settlements near Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
A preliminary investigation by the Israeli army found that Eygi was "highly likely" hit "indirectly and unintentionally" by Israeli fire targeting what it called a main instigator during the protest. However, video evidence and eyewitness accounts have contradicted Israel's version of events.
Her family, as well as a group of over 100 lawmakers, have requested that the Biden administration launch an independent investigation into her death. He has yet to respond affirmatively to the appeals.
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