Former President Joe Biden, known for his storytelling, often shares two anecdotes about Israel. The first recounts his father’s reaction to the Holocaust: “It was at that table I first heard the phrase … ‘Never again,’” Biden says of dinner table discussions from his childhood. “It was at that table that I learned that the only way to ensure that it could never happen again was the establishment and the existence of a secure Jewish state of Israel.”1 The second anecdote, described in Biden’s memoir, recounts a meeting he had with Prime Minister Golda Meir on the eve of the Yom Kippur War. Biden recalls Meir saying, “We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle against the Arabs. We have nowhere else to go.”2
These two stories reinforce the strong pro-Israel image that Biden has cultivated throughout his half-century-long political career. However, Biden’s once inveterate pro-Israel stance was significantly tested in recent times as war engulfed the Middle East. Despite providing rhetorical and material support to Israel since October 7, Biden was also quick to voice sharp criticism. Biden continuously lectured Israel to provide more humanitarian aid to the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre. He also condemned Israel’s actions in public statements while turning a blind eye to the plight of the American hostages held by Hamas. In fact, a significant portion of his 2024 State of the Union Address was devoted to denouncing Israel’s actions in the Gaza War. He urged Israel “to take the win” and refrain from retaliating against Iran’s April attack on its territory.3 Additionally, he imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank and even considered sanctioning IDF units that the administration suspected of human rights violations. Instead of praising Israel for eliminating Hamas chairman Ismail Haniyeh, he downplayed the achievement, stating that it “doesn’t help.” 4 Finally, he withheld weapons from the IDF, including 2,000-pound bombs, which former Ambassador Michael Herzog later called “the most important weapons that we needed during the war.” 5
Despite providing rhetorical and material support to Israel since October 7, Biden was also quick to voice sharp criticism. Biden continuously lectured Israel to provide more humanitarian aid to the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre.
All this contradicts the Biden administration’s insistence that its support for Israel was unwavering. Biden’s actions would have made more sense if he had always harbored anti-Israel sentiments, but this is not the case. His longtime embrace of the Jewish state became increasingly untenable in today’s Democratic Party. Biden’s volte-face on Israel as president underscores the significant influence that the anti-Israel Left now exerts in Democratic politics. To compensate, Biden provided billions of dollars in U.S. military aid and shared intelligence, recognizing that it was in the country’s interest for Israel to crush Hamas and Hezbollah. At the same time, he sought to appease the anti-Israel Left through words and actions, fearing that an overly pro-Israel stance would harm his party’s prospects in the November 2024 election. In doing so, he prioritized partisan gain over national interests.
During his presidency, Biden’s tactics on Israel were blatantly political. Throughout his career, Biden was a partisan figure, deeply attuned to the Democratic Party’s mainstream. He championed Israel’s cause when it aligned with the prevailing norms within the party. However, in recent years, as support for Israel became politically precarious, Biden adjusted his stance accordingly.
Biden’s Early Zionism
It would be unfair to assert that Biden has been waging a “war against the Jews” for decades, as Julie Strauss Levin proposed in her Tablet essay last year.5 Instead, he was one of Israel’s most steadfast supporters for most of his public life. The strength and duration of his support make it even more striking that he adopted anti-Israel positions as president.
When he entered the Senate in 1973, Biden quickly earned a pro-Israel reputation. Alongside Senators Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey, Biden was one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the upper chamber. Unlike today’s Left, this group of politicians saw no conflict between support for Israel and the political progressivism they championed at home. To them, the two were inseparable. Democrats like Biden celebrated Israel’s liberal democratic project, admiring the efforts of Labor Party leaders such as Golda Meir, Levi Eshkol, and David Ben-Gurion in creating an egalitarian society in one of the most challenging regions on Earth. They recognized that Israel, a close ally of the United States, was surrounded by hostile nations backed by America’s chief adversary—the Soviet Union.
Biden was deeply drawn to Israel and developed a strong emotional bond with the country. He believed that championing Israel’s cause from the halls of the Senate was not only the right thing to do but also advanced U.S. strategic interests. Ensuring Israel’s safety and security became the cornerstone of Washington’s Middle East strategy. At the same time, there was no political cost to his support for Israel—if anything, it earned him political dividends. Biden would have found it difficult to remain in the Senate for as long as he did with an anti-Israel record. In fact, most Democrats shared his enthusiastic support for the Jewish state. They admired Israeli democracy and had little regard for the repressive Arab regimes determined to destroy it.
Biden’s actions would have made more sense if he had always harbored anti-Israel sentiments, but this is not the case. His longtime embrace of the Jewish state became increasingly untenable in today’s Democratic Party.
That is why Biden favored maintaining a close security relationship with Israel. Few lawmakers championed military aid to Israel as ardently as he did. Biden held the Jewish people in high regard and sympathized with their longstanding plight. Born in 1942, he came of age in the aftermath of the most traumatic period in Jewish history. As he grew older, he came to fully grasp the horrors of the Holocaust that had devastated European Jewry. In June 1967, while he was a law student, Arab forces threatened to annihilate the Jewish state. Just six years later, in 1973—the same year he began his tenure in the Senate—the Yom Kippur War erupted. In the Senate, Biden readily advocated for Israel’s defense, convinced that Israel’s cause was just and that it needed weapons to defend itself.
Biden was especially determined to support Israel when Republican President Gerald Ford implemented tough measures against it. In 1975, amid Ford’s “reassessment” of Middle East policy—which included suspending weapons sales to Israel—Biden joined 75 of his Senate colleagues in sending a letter urging Ford to reverse course.7 Biden believed that the Ford administration was jeopardizing Israel’s security by depriving it of desperately needed arms. Biden was also far less inclined to extend weapon sales to Arab states, reasoning simply that he refused to arm countries hostile to Israel.
Biden proved willing to rebuke presidents—even Democratic ones—whom he believed were endorsing irresponsible policies toward Israel. In 1978, while the Carter administration was brokering peace talks between Israel and Egypt, it announced a massive weapons package designed to address each country’s security concerns. The deal included F-15 and F-16 fighters for Israel, F-5s for Egypt, and F-15s for Saudi Arabia. To improve its chances of approval, the White House bundled the most popular part of the package—aircraft for Israel—with the less favorable elements—aircraft for Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This move frustrated pro-Israel lawmakers like Biden who feared that arming the Saudis and Egyptians would undermine efforts to achieve peace. Instead, he pushed for a Senate resolution to block the entire package.8 Despite his efforts, the Senate narrowly voted in favor of the deal.9
Biden’s pro-Israel advocacy continued beyond this episode. When Israel launched a surprise attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981, Biden was less critical than many others in the U.S. government, particularly the Reagan administration, which responded by withholding the delivery of F-16 fighters to punish Israel for the strike. “This is a nation that was told, retold, and told again by the alleged possessor, or soon to be possessor of a nuclear weapon that its goal was the elimination of Israel as a nation-state,” Biden remarked during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing later that month. He continued, “I am disturbed with Prime Minister Begin. I am not as disturbed with the action that was taken. I don’t forgive Begin, but I can understand why he did it.” 10
In 1981, Biden further solidified his pro-Israel bona fides by opposing the Reagan administration’s controversial sale of AWACS surveillance aircraft to Saudi Arabia. Israel, which viewed the AWACS sale as a threat to its security, hoped that Congress would block the arms package. Israel found an ally in Biden, who penned an op-ed in the New York Times condemning the AWACS sale. “Israel’s military superiority and military-technology edge would be dangerously eroded by the arms package,” Biden noted.11 His opposition to the sale was not solely driven by partisanship. In fact, ten Democratic senators eventually broke ranks and voted with the Reagan administration, helping to save the sale. 12
Throughout his Senate tenure, Biden earned a reputation among Israelis as a friendly ally who could be counted on to support the Jewish state when it mattered most. When Biden entered his political prime, he did so at a time when Democratic pro-Israel sentiments were beginning to show signs of fracture. Most American politicians were wary of the Israeli “settlements” in Judea and Samaria built after Israel’s victory in 1967. The prevailing belief was that the presence of Jews in the West Bank obstructed the creation of a Palestinian state and hindered broader Arab-Israeli peace. Resistance to the settlements became particularly significant within the Democratic Party, as its left wing grew more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. While Democrats were still strongly pro-Israel, they began to have more frequent disagreements with Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians. Biden was no exception. However, on the major issues, he remained unwaveringly pro-Israel.
While Democrats were still strongly pro-Israel, they began to have more frequent disagreements with Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians. Biden was no exception. However, on the major issues, he remained unwaveringly pro-Israel.
The outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000 did not diminish Biden’s support for Israel. While some progressives objected to Israel’s right to self-defense, their numbers were limited. Mainstream Democrats did not see any moral equivalence between a sovereign nation acting in self-defense and terrorists bombing buses and cafes. They denounced the terrorists in Fatah and Hamas and were alarmed when the latter group won the Palestinian elections in 2006 and took over the entire Gaza Strip the following year. Even progressives who were critical of Israel recognized the politically high cost of criticizing Israel, while it fought against genocidal Islamists. Apologists for terrorism, such as those seen today, remained confined to the fringes of the activist community. At this juncture, Biden’s pro-Israel stance was also motivated by his presidential ambitions, which culminated in his official campaign announcement in early 2007.
Biden’s staunch support for Israel was evident in the summer of 2006, when he backed Israel’s war against Hezbollah. He condemned the aggression of the Lebanese terrorist group and its Iranian sponsors while standing firmly with Israel. On July 16, just four days after the war started, Biden made no attempt to hedge his position during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. Responding to a question from the late Tim Russert, Biden stated, “We’re left with no option here, in my view, but to support Israel in what is a totally legitimate self-defense effort.” Biden went on, “I find it fascinating people talk about has Israel gone too far. No one talks about whether Israel’s justified in the first place.” 13 How quickly we forget that Democrats like Biden habitually made statements like this not too long ago.
Two days later, Biden co-sponsored a Senate resolution “condemning Hezbollah and Hamas and their state sponsors and supporting Israel’s exercise of its right to self-defense.” 14 His stance on the war could not have been clearer. Israel, a democratic ally of the United States, was under attack by terrorists that Iran, an adversary of the United States, was funding. That was still a mainstream Democratic position at the time. A few months later, Biden summed it up succinctly: Democratic support for Israel, he said, “comes from our gut, moves through our heart, and ends up in our head. It’s almost genetic.” 15
During Biden’s subsequent campaign for president, his nearly “genetic” sympathies were evident. Biden presented himself as Israel’s best friend. His warmth stood in stark contrast to the rising minority within the Democratic Party that viewed Israel as the obstacle to Middle East peace. A few of Biden’s fellow presidential contenders for the nomination, namely Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich, voiced criticism of Israel—a sentiment that had become increasingly widespread within the party. Biden, however, held fast to his position. “In my 34-year career, I have never wavered from the notion that the only time progress has ever been made in the Middle East is when the Arab nations have known that there is no daylight between us and Israel,” he said during his campaign in March 2007. “The idea of being the ‘honest broker’ is not I think, like some of my [D]emocratic colleagues call for, is not the answer.” 16
The Modern Democratic Party and Israel
Barack Obama, on whose coattails Biden soon rode to executive power, firmly believed that being an honest broker was the key to peace. Biden’s ascent to the vice presidency brought his longstanding pro-Israel position into conflict with the Left’s growing hostility toward Israel. His views, shaped decades earlier, often clashed with those of a new generation of Democrats. By the time Biden became vice president in 2009, the Democratic Party was far less pro-Israel than it had been in the 1970s when he first entered national politics. Many liberals no longer viewed Israel as a valiant underdog battling formidable bullies. Instead, they saw Israel as the “oppressor”—having seized Palestinian land and established what they perceived as a Jewish-supremacist state.
Within the Obama administration, Biden’s staunch pro-Israel stance made him something of an anachronism. On Middle East policy, his views were increasingly out of step with younger officials such as U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, and even President Obama himself. These “good progressives” were committed as they saw it to making American foreign policy more just, believing that for too long the United States had been overly influenced by Israel. They sought to create “daylight” between the two countries, convinced that doing so would help address Palestinian grievances. Even if Biden harbored doubts about these policies, he was still responsible for implementing them. Part of his role was to reassure the Democratic old guard that the Obama administration was not abandoning Israel.
Within the Obama administration, Biden’s staunch pro-Israel stance made him something of an anachronism. On Middle East policy, his views were increasingly out of step with younger officials such as U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, and even President Obama himself.
Undermining the administration’s professed commitment to Israel’s security was the nuclear deal with Iran—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Biden was tasked with easing concerns about the deal in Congress and in the Jewish community. He called the JCPOA “a good deal” and invested considerable effort in winning over skeptics who feared it would threaten regional stability.17 In March 2016, shortly after the JCPOA took effect, Biden addressed AIPAC’s annual conference. While attendees welcomed him warmly in recognition of his decades-long support for Zionism, their reception could not conceal the shadow that the nuclear deal had cast.18 The vice president attempted to reconcile the administration’s policy of appeasing Iran with Israel’s security interests—but he failed miserably.
When Biden’s vice-presidential tenure ended in 2017, he could still rightly claim to be a true friend of Israel. However, after his 2020 presidential run, his pro-Israel reputation came crashing down. When Biden launched his campaign at age seventy-six, he was already out of sync with the times. The Democratic Party’s pro-Israel core had completely dissipated, and two leading contenders for the nomination, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, ran on platforms that could only be described as anti-Israel.
Biden knew he had to appeal to the progressive base to secure the nomination. “Bibi Netanyahu and I know one another well. He knows that I think what he’s doing is outrageous,” Biden said during a primary debate in December 2019. “We have to put pressure constantly on the Israelis to move to a two-state solution.” 19 He would not have dared say such things during his first two bids for the Democratic nomination. But the party had shifted so much that unqualified support for Israel had become a political liability.
The anti-Israel ethos of today’s Democratic Party surfaced just a few months into the Biden presidency. When Hamas launched rockets into Israel in May 2021, Democrats were quick to blame Israel and call for a ceasefire. Within just one week of the conflict, over 25 Democratic senators issued a statement demanding one.20 Biden quickly succumbed to the pressure, issuing his own statement calling for a ceasefire.21 In his memoir, Netanyahu recounts that President Biden by phone urged him to accept a ceasefire. “I’m coming under a lot of pressure back here,” Biden reportedly said. “This is not Scoop Jackson’s Democratic Party.” 22
“This is not Scoop Jackson’s Democratic Party.”
Indeed, it is no longer Henry “Scoop” Jackson’s Democratic Party. Both the Democratic base and establishment have become increasingly hostile to Israel. Four years later, amid the latest war with Hamas, the activist class has responded to Israel’s defensive actions with far more righteous indignation. The same can be said for many younger Democratic staffers in Congress, who have attended elite schools that have become hotbeds of anti-Zionism. They believe their party has been too lenient on Israel, not too harsh.
Biden was too weak to dismiss the anti-Israel activists exerting pressure on the administration. “Those protesters out in the street, they have a point,” he said.23 He feared they would abandon the Democratic Party unless his administration implemented tough measures against Israel. Whether Democratic anti-Israel voters contributed to the Republican victory in November 2024 by abstaining or voting for independent candidates remains to be conclusively established. But there is no doubt that Biden wanted them to vote blue and redesigned his Middle East policies accordingly.
Conclusion
Throughout his career, Biden adapted to the shifting political winds. He often traded long-held positions for the sake of political expediency. For instance, for years he positioned himself as an opponent of abortion—until it became politically untenable to do so in the Democratic Party. As he exited public life, Biden still recognized that a strong Israel served U.S. interests. That is why his immediate response to any threat against Israel was to affirm that the United States’ “commitment to Israel’s security … is ironclad.” 24 He understood that abandoning the Jewish state would be strategically and morally bankrupt. But such a stance is increasingly at odds with his party’s Democratic base. Biden ultimately concluded that his own pro-Israel stance—perhaps as sincere as ever—had become a liability to his party’s political fortunes. Biden, like many older politicians before him, reckoned with changing times—and he changed with them.
1. Times of Israel, April 25, 2019, https://www.timesofisrael.com/5-jewish-things-to-know-about-joe-biden/.
2. Joe Biden, Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics (Random House, 2008), 143.
3. Axios, April 14, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/04/14/biden-netanyahu-iran-israel-us-wont-support.
4. Reuters, Aug. 2, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-says-killing-hamas-leader-ismail-haniyeh-not-helpful-ceasefire-2024-08-02/.
5. Times of Israel, February 4, 2025, https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-finishing-dc-tour-an-israeli-ambassador-known-for-his-discretion-is-ready-to-talk/.
6. Julie Strauss Levin, “The President’s War Against the Jews,” Tablet, March 27, 2024, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/president-biden-war-against-jews.
7. New York Times, May 23, 1975, https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/23/archives/white-house-backs-israel-but-it-avoids-a-reply-to-76-senators.html.
8. New York Times, May 16, 1978, https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/16/archives/debate-is-intense-president-reaffirms-links-to-israel-and-moderate.html.
9. New York Times, May 16, 1978, https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/16/archives/senate-rollcall-vote-on-jetsale-package.html.
10. “The Israeli Air Strike,” Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, June 18, 19, and 25, 1981, 217, https://li.proquest.com/elhpdf/histcontext/HRG-1981-FOR-0027.pdf.
11. New York Times, April 15, 1981, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/15/opinion/stop-arms-for-saudis.html.
12. “Roll Call Votes, Senate Vote #338 in 1981,” Gov Track, Oct. 28, 1981, https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/97-1981/s338.
13. “Transcript for July 16,” NBC News, July 16, 2006, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna13839698.
14. “S. Res.534 - A Resolution Condemning Hezbollah and Hamas and their State Sponsors and Supporting Israel’s Exercise of Its Right to Self-Defense,” 109th Congress, https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-resolution/534.
15. Forward, n.d., https://forward.com/news/4810/democrats-fighting-back-against-bad-on-israel-char/.
16. Forward, March 21, 2007, https://forward.com/news/10396/presidential-hopeful-slams-bush-for-stance-on-syri/.
17. New York Times, Sept. 3, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003889850/biden-calls-iran-pact-a-good-deal.html.
18. “Vice President Biden’s Remarks,” AIPAC Annual Conference, C-Span, March 20, 2016, https://www.c-span.org/video/?406972-1/aipac-annual-conference-vice-president-biden-remarks.
19. Democratic Candidates Debate in Los Angeles, California, Dec. 19, 2019, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/democratic-candidates-debate-los-angeles-california.
20. CNN, May 17, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/17/politics/senators-ceasefire-middle-east/index.html.
21. “Readout of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel,” The White House, May 17, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/17/readout-of-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-call-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel-4/.
22. Benjamin Netanyahu, Bibi: My Story (Threshold Editions, 2022), 647.
23. Forbes, Aug. 20, 2024, https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/08/20/biden-says-pro-palestinian-protestors-have-a-point-in-dnc-speech/.
24. Guardian, April 10, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/10/biden-israel-iran-strike.
