In the six months following Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, more than 1,000 Israelis and 32,000 Palestinians have been killed. Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7 were reprehensible, but they have been almost entirely overshadowed by Israel’s relentless assault on the Palestinian people.
Israel indiscriminately dropped 29,000 bombs — the majority of which were made in the United States — on Gaza in just three months, leaving more than 70% of all homes in the heavily-urbanized region destroyed. More than 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza are crammed against the strip’s southern border with Egypt, facing a hunger crisis at a scale not seen in a century. In his inability to use the United States’ substantial leverage to temper Israel’s retaliation, President Joe Biden has made our nation’s government complicit in a genocide. Biden’s failure to change course and take decisive diplomatic action to prevent genocide in Gaza is not just a moral failure — it also hampers his chances at reelection.
The Biden administration certainly has blood on its hands. The question remains: Why did the Biden administration do next to nothing for months, while thousands of civilians were murdered and millions of Palestinians became deeply entrenched in one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 21st century? It wasn’t in fear of alienating Jewish progressives, as such groups have been advocating for a cease-fire for months. Moreover, Jews are by no means a monolith when it comes to Israel and hold widely differing views on it, even before Oct. 7. Since Oct. 7, a significant minority of younger American Jews have supported a cease-fire. Continued support for Israel has also alienated Arab voters, a substantial coalition that secured tight electoral races for him in the 2020 presidential election.
Another stipulation — one far more likely, given Biden’s half-century-long support of Israel and inability to acquiesce with a changed global political landscape — is that Biden remains stuck in a mindset that unrelenting support for Israel is essential to the integrity of U.S. foreign policy. In the 76 years since Israel’s inception, the U.S. has treated Israel like a sovereign younger brother: a shining outpost of Western hegemony, the only democracy of its kind in the Middle East. Likely unbeknownst to Biden, who has demonstrated significant mental decline throughout his presidency, times have changed, and opinions on the region have become dramatically more nuanced among American voters.
Israel’s favorability has gone down since Oct. 7, but it is young voters in particular who support a permanent cease-fire. The uncommitted movement swept through Democratic primaries across the country, indicating sizable cracks in a Democratic coalition that once firmly stood behind Biden. Support for Biden is now trailing Trump in the 2024 presidential race by a margin of five points, with two-thirds of voters believing the country is heading in the wrong direction. Such dismal numbers have only been made more dire by Biden’s handling of the genocide in Gaza, with a substantial majority of voters disapproving of his handling of the situation.
Despite these serious political incentives to change his policy, Biden continues to sidestep direct confrontation with Israel while spearheading half-hearted humanitarian initiatives that hardly improve the Palestinians’ conditions. As Biden brokers for a “temporary cease-fire,” U.S. weapons shipments to Israel continue, despite reports that the Israeli military deliberately targets civilian infrastructure and even civilians themselves. Even while a majority of Americans support halting weapons shipments to Israel, Biden remains unconvinced and continues to feed the Israeli war machine in its ethnic cleansing campaign.
Netanyahu and his extremist government have made it clear that rescuing hostages and destroying Hamas are not their only goals. With full assurance they won’t face significant American repercussions, Israel has no incentive to change policy. Prior peace negotiations have done little to deescalate the situation. A temporary truce in November resulted in the exchange of dozens of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages, yet did little to deflate tensions or alleviate the humanitarian crisis, with Netanyahu insisting the war must continue until Hamas is eradicated.
With such a hawkish stance, it is unsurprising that the war has progressed to its current point. Given Netanyahu’s mindset toward Palestine, which has remained constant throughout his decades-long career at the helm of Israel, Biden should have enticed Netanyahu to the negotiating table at a far earlier point. For the first time in more than a month, Biden spoke to Netanyahu, telling him to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza and cautioning against a looming Israeli invasion of Rafah. Unconvinced, Netanyahu maintains that the war in Gaza must continue. If he truly desires peace, Biden must change course.
On March 25, the United Nations Security Council passed a cease-fire resolution that calls for an end to fighting throughout the month of Ramadan. The U.S. abstained after it drafted its own resolution on March 22. Given the fact that the U.S. was the sole veto to a nearly identical resolution in February, it appears that the Biden administration has finally recognized the tide toward cease-fire has indeed turned and must finally assuage the will of the American people and relieve Palestinians.
To win back voters, Biden must make decisive strides toward peace in the region. By halting weapons shipments to Israel and enforcing the crossing of essential aid into Rafah, the Biden administration can make the first step to reestablishing trust with its voter base. By brokering a permanent cease-fire, it can go even further to appease Americans who’ve lost trust in the Biden administration, especially since the U.S. has historically vetoed UNSC resolutions against Israel.
To increase the likelihood that Israel’s campaign will end, Biden must also bring Hamas to the negotiating table and guarantee the release of all remaining hostages in return for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. This will allow aid groups to alleviate the humanitarian crisis undeterred and rebuild Gaza for Palestinians. If Biden wants to win back his voters and secure lasting peace in Israel and Palestine, these will only be the first steps. Biden must keep Israeli and Palestinian parties at the negotiating table.
The war in Gaza has highlighted glaring deficiencies in Biden’s foreign policy strategy, moral character and political raffinesse. It has also shown that his inability to do more to thwart ethnic cleansing in Gaza could cost him the 2024 election. Alternatively, if Biden finally relents and listens to his voters, he has the opportunity to succeed where prior U.S. presidents have failed and forge lasting peace in the region.
Maximilian Schenke is an Opinion Columnist who is most passionate about international politics, but often also writes about national politics, or whatever else is on his mind. He loves receiving criticism or otherwise at maxsch@umich.edu.