Steady US support gives Israel ‘cover’ to attack Jenin

The United States’ unwavering support for Israel has enabled and emboldened the right-wing Israeli government’s escalating violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, analysts say.

As Israeli forces targeted the densely populated Jenin refugee camp with air attacks and ground raids involving hundreds of troops on Monday, the White House again underscored what it called Israel’s “right to defend” itself.“We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups,” the White House National Security Council said in a brief statement.

Experts say that response reflects US President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to rein in his country’s top ally in the Middle East despite a pledge to centre human rights in US foreign policy – and as concerns around the scale of the Israeli attack in Jenin are mounting.

“I think we will continue to see – as has happened in the past – the US administration run cover for the Israelis and let them get away with doing whatever they want,” Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project think tank, told Al Jazeera in a television interview on Monday.The Biden administration doesn’t want the situation in the West Bank to blow up, but it won’t risk its relationship with Israel, Levy said. “And that’s why in particular things have gotten so bad.”‘Israel on a pedestal’
Israel launched the attack on Jenin – one of many recent assaults on the refugee camp – on Monday, saying it is targeting armed Palestinian groups. At least nine Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured so far.The attack, which followed the killing of four Israeli settlers by two Palestinian gunmen in the northern West Bank last month, included some of the worst Israeli air attacks in the occupied territory in decades.

In its brief statement, the White House did not mention Palestinian civilians or call for a de-escalation. Later on Monday, a State Department spokesperson said it is “is imperative to take all possible precautions to prevent the loss of civilian lives” while reiterating that Israel has a “right to defend its people”.

Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a US policy fellow at Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka, said the US policy on the conflict keeps getting worse.