It’s finally happened. After months of whispers that President Joe Biden is disgusted with Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, on Thursday, America’s commander in chief demanded “an immediate ceasefire” during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. That halt in combat operations is “essential,” according to Biden, “to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians.”
This unprecedented crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations has been building throughout this war, which was started on Oct. 7 by Hamas with its brutal terrorist attack on Israel. That attack killed more than a thousand Israelis, most of them civilians. Netanyahu’s retribution has been fierce, with the Israel Defense Forces executing their biggest combat operations in over four decades in their assault on the Gaza Strip. The IDF’s intent has been clear from the start of Operation Swords of Iron: the destruction of Hamas as a terrorist organization.
