The Nature of American Movement on the Settlement Track During the Election Year

The relationship between the United States and Israel differs from its relations with any other country, as Israel enjoys substantial financial and military support, and political backing in international forums for everything it commits in the occupied Palestinian territories, which constitutes a blatant violation of international laws and conventions. This American conduct has, over the decades, contributed to providing Israel cover to bypass all prohibitions, which Israel has exploited in acts of revenge unprecedented in their brutality against Gaza and its people, in retaliation for the October 7 attack.

Despite this, the relationship between the leaders of the two countries sometimes witnesses differences in viewpoints, such as the current relationship between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the clear political positions of American President Joe Biden toward Israel and Zionism, and his longstanding support for them even before he assumed the presidency. A public coolness has crept into the relationship between them, to the extent that Biden has not extended an invitation to Netanyahu to visit the White House, as has customarily happened after the formation of a new Israeli government; in contrast, he received Israeli President Isaac Herzog — who does not hold executive powers — in a protocol meeting with no political implications.

After the October 7 attack, Biden made a rare visit to Israel to affirm his support for it during crises, and his positions won the backing of the American Congress, which approved the provision of military and material support to Israel; but with the unprecedented escalation seen in the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, and the heavy losses among Palestinian civilians, voices inside and outside Congress have begun to rise demanding a change in United States policy toward what is happening in Gaza, including voices from within the Democratic Party, and opposition to Biden's position is considered a worrying indicator of a shift in the share of votes supporting the President in the upcoming election.

Prepared by Dr. Raed Mohammed Najm