Tensions flare in Middle East as White House treads carefully

WASHINGTON (SBG) — The skies over Tel Aviv were ignited in new video showing how as the ground shakes, tensions are turning words into action.

It comes after Palestinians, led by Hamas, fired missiles into Israel, which prompted Israel to respond, launching air strikes, killing dozens including children. Top U.S. officials have condemned rocket attacks led by Hamas.

"While we urge de-escalation on all sides, we also recognize Israel's legitimate right to defend itself and to defend its people and its territory," said Ned Price, State Department spokesperson, during a news conference Monday.

Factors behind the escalating tensions including citizens of both countries being divided over their own governments. These are also several issues related to population changes and growing poverty among Palestinians. And this year, there were overlapping religious holidays at at one of the holiest sites in the world.

“This goes back to the fact that people have been fighting over the fate of Jerusalem recorded history," said Anthony Cordesman, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

One of the biggest questions in Washington right now is what, if anything, President Joe Biden and his administration will do in this moment.

The president has a long history of helping to guide U.S. foreign policy, but folded into that history is what critics call a series of missteps.

As vice president, Biden helped lead the effort to drawdown troops in Iraq, a move Iraqi leadership insisted upon but that we would later learn would create a vacuum and give the Islamic State space to flourish.

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called Biden a man of integrity but wrote in his memoir, “Still, I think he’s been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”

Former President Donald Trump was viewed far more loyal to Israel’s Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

His team also helped negotiate agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and strengthen its relationship with Israel.

That being said, tensions in the region have lasted generations.

Some worry current clashes are just one of many issues the Biden white house may face in the Middle East.

"The problem we have in the us as we always assume there’s a right choice and with a lot of problems in this region there isn’t a right choice," Cordesman said.

For now those choices are mostly in the hands of those in the Middle East, with mounting concerns about what will happen next.