President Biden held his second Oval Office address to the nation on October 19, reaffirming his support for Israel and encouraging the nation to do the same. According to Biden, the security of the United States rests upon the country’s assistance of Israel and its invasion of Gaza. But does it really? Why must the United States assist Israel in its invasion of Gaza?

The response to Biden’s call to support Israel has been very mixed. National opinion of Israel’s invasion is far from positive, as many Americans are appalled by the retaliatory actions of Israel. Some pundits warn that the actions of Israel are not far off from genocide, a sentiment mirrored on social media by Americans across the political spectrum. Supporting an ally’s invasion of a foreign country mostly inhabited by unarmed civilians will not be a very popular decision once the dust clears.

Also, what does America expect the outcome to be if Israel “wins?” What will happen to the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza? Regardless of what any PR releases from the Biden administration claim, the administration does not want the war to end, as they were the sole vote against a cease-fire put forward in the United Nations.

Biden released a statement claiming to condemn the loss of innocent Palestinian deaths while simultaneously asking for support for the perpetrators of the killings, and wide swaths of Americans are rightly criticizing him for doing so. His administration is simply not representing the wishes of the majority of its constituents. 

More and more horrifying statistics and testimonies emerge from Palestine every day, and the arguments that Israel is simply defending itself or enforcing proportional punishment are becoming less and less viable. Estimates of Israeli deaths as a result of the October 7 attack are around 1,400 people, while Israel has killed over 6,500 Palestinians so far in retaliation. Although the number of Hamas militants killed in Palestine is unknown, almost half of the Palestinian casualties are children, as reported by hospitals in Gaza.

Additionally, since the October 7 attack, over 100 Palestinians have been murdered in the West Bank, a territory bordering eastern Israel where Hamas is not present and there have been no reports of attacks on Israel. This leaves no explanation for the murders other than them being hate crimes.

The Biden administration needs to listen to its constituents and condemn Israel’s so-called self-defense because it has now manifested into murdering civilians indiscriminately. Condemning an attack that killed 1,400 civilians, only to turn around and support another that has killed at least 2,500 children alone, is frankly disgusting. The United States should rescind its support for Israel’s invasion of Palestine.