Is Biden’s policy towards the Israel-Hamas war working?

The deadly drone attack by Iran-backed militias in Jordan escalates the security crisis in West Asia, as the US faces challenges in preventing further regional escalation.

The drone attack by Iran-backed Shia militias on a U.S. military logistics hub in Jordan, along the border with Syria, in which three American service persons were killed and dozens more injured, is the deadliest assault on U.S. forces in West Asia since the Hamas-Israel war broke out on October 7.

President Joe Biden has said the U.S. will retaliate, indicating that the current security crisis in West Asia is set to escalate further.

When Israel launched an all-out attack on Gaza, after Hamas’s cross-border raid killing at least 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, the Biden administration adopted a two-fold approach — to let Israel continue its war with America’s military assistance and diplomatic protection while simultaneously working to prevent the crisis from escalating into a regional conflict. Three and a half months later, Israel’s war is far from over, while the crisis has already spread across the region.  

Even when casualties rose in Gaza and international pressure mounted on Israel to halt the attacks, the Biden administration continued to back Israel’s war.

It vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution that called for a humanitarian ceasefire and voted against back-to-back resolutions in the UN General Assembly that were critical of Israel’s war and occupation.

Israel’s war has killed over 26,000 Palestinians (mostly women and children), wounded more than 60,000 and displaced roughly 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.

The International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, last week ordered Israel to take measures to prevent genocidal acts by its forces in Gaza. Yet, the Biden administration hasn’t even called for a ceasefire.