This Saturday, April 13, 2024, after Iran concluded its retaliatory attack on Israel from Iranian territory. U.S. troops rushed to defend Israel for the first time in history.

Iran was retaliating for an Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders on April 1, 2024.

In the early days of Israel’s war on Gaza, President Joe Biden deployed two aircraft carriers to threaten any country that decides to join the war against Israel, even though his administration claimed that it had “no plans or intentions to put U.S. boots on the ground in combat.”

The U.S. military, along with British and French military forces, intercepted “more than 80 one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen,” the U.S. Central Command said Sunday.

According to the U.S. Naval Institute, “both land- and sea-based aircraft were also involved in the U.S. response.” Jordan assisted the U.S. and European militaries by intercepting Iranian drones over its own airspace.

Although the U.S. defended Israel, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will not join a counterattack on Iran, U.S. officials confirmed on Sunday.

This all comes after the United Nations Security Council passed a ceasefire resolution following the surprise U.S. abstention on March 25. At the time, the U.S. vote shocked Israel as officials angrily criticized the resolution, canceled meetings in the U.S., reaffirmed they had no intention of a ceasefire, and continued their attacks on Gaza the following day.

A few days before the resolution passed, U.S. Democratic lawmakers also urged Biden to stop sending weapons to Israel, stating that it is illegal so long as it “continues to restrict the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the continued provision of US security assistance to Israel would constitute a violation of existing US law and must be restricted.”

“Given the catastrophic and devolving humanitarian situation in Gaza, we urge you to enforce the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act,” they said.

Instead of listening, Biden authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel a few days later.

The arms approved on March 29, 2024, included 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, State and Defense Department officials told the Washington Post newspaper.

Soon after, Biden was forced to cancel the annual Ramadan Iftar dinner at the White House after Muslim leaders declined his invitation due to his unwavering support for Israel’s war on Gaza. The cancellation was a first after more than 20 years of U.S. presidents hosting iftar dinners with hundreds in attendance and press coverage.

“The American Muslim community said very early on that it would be completely unacceptable for us to break bread with the very same White House that is enabling the Israeli government to starve and slaughter the Palestinian people in Gaza,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The White House decided to prepare an iftar meal for Muslim staffers only and hold a separate meeting with a few Muslim American community leaders.

The meeting, which was held on April 2, lasted for more than an hour. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, and other senior officials were present.

Palestinian American doctor, Thaer Ahmad, who had recently treated patients in Gaza spoke first to Biden and then walked out of the meeting about six minutes later, according to an interview with the New York Times. 

Ahmad told Biden that Israel’s imminent ground invasion of Rafah would be a “blood bath and a massacre.” He also gave him a letter from an 8-year-old girl in Gaza who lost her entire family.

After sharing what he witnessed, Ahmad left the meeting as the only Palestinian American at the table.

“I said, ‘Out of respect for my community, and out of respect for the many people who are grieving, and who are in a lot of pain, I have to walk out of this meeting.”

On the same day the meeting with Muslim leaders was held, news broke out that seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, were killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes. Unlike the hundreds of United Nations and Arab aid workers killed by Israel, their murder forced world leaders, including Biden, to express outrage.

And yet, the Biden administration still approved the transfer of more than a thousand bombs to Israel that same day, according to a report released by the Washington Post. 

Additionally, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters in a press conference the following day that the US will not hold a “sort of condition over their [Israel’s] neck.”

“We’re still going to make sure that they [Israel] can defend themselves,” he said.

According to recent reports from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israel has killed more than 41,000 people, injured over 77,000, and displaced 2 million people.

An analysis released on March 18, 2024, by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership warned that famine is looming in northern Gaza and the rest of the Strip is at risk due to Israel’s total siege.

“The IPC announcement reflects the dire situation that the people of Gaza are facing,” said World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Before this crisis, there was enough food in Gaza to feed the population. Malnutrition was a rare occurrence. Now, people are dying, and many more are sick. Over a million people are expected to face catastrophic hunger unless significantly more food is allowed to enter Gaza.”