Why is the US Actively Supporting Israel's "Revenge Operation" with Aircraft Carriers?

The US is sending two aircraft carriers and a large number of ships and fighter jets to the Eastern Mediterranean

Hamas says that it launched its attack on Israel on 7 October mainly as a culmination of long-accumulated anger against Israeli policies, including the recent outbreak of violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, but more generally as a reaction to the mistreatment of Palestinians and the Israeli policy of settlement expansion. Ultimately, what Hamas is doing is seen as a terrorist attack. It is normal to see it as such. However, instead of addressing the causes of the attack, Israel has chosen to launch punitive and retaliatory operations. Thus, it began to drop bombs from the air almost indiscriminately on the two million three hundred thousand Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Israel's retaliatory attacks on the Gaza Strip are killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinians in 365 square kilometres of blockaded territory, one of the poorest in the world. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are running for shelter and trying to survive as a result of Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

Israel continues to bombard the besieged Gaza Strip for the sixth day in a row, following a deadly attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday. Israel, at the level of Prime Minister Netanyahu, has been talking about the possibility of a ground operation following these air strikes, which will obviously cause the death of thousands of innocent people, women, children and elderly people. Hamas sowed the seeds of hatred on the Israeli side with its attack. Now, Netanyahu is throwing hate bombs at the Palestinian side by launching a "revenge operation" in response. The historical vicious circle continues.

Meanwhile, the US wants to be a part of Israel's revenge operation militarily as well as politically and economically. Israel already has one of the most powerful armies in the world, supported by more than $3.8 billion a year in military aid from the United States. Militants like Hamas, which does not even have an aeroplane and is confined to the Gaza Strip, has no power to withstand the Israeli army. Even the Arab world does not have such power. Past wars have shown that it does not. An asymmetrical war between Israel and Hamas has started and continues. Despite this asymmetrical power imbalance, the US has stubbornly rushed to deploy aircraft carriers and affiliated ships in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is as if President Biden is trying to prove something to the Jewish Lobby, to show that the Democrats are on Israel's side more than the Republicans, and ultimately to invest in the 2024 presidential elections.

The United States has almost no active military units or forces in Israel. Nevertheless, since the early 1990s, the Pentagon has continued to build up logistics in Israel. When withdrawing from Iraq, it left some equipment, vehicles and supplies in Israel. Currently, the only active US military installation on Israeli territory is the AN/TPY-2 early missile warning radar station on Mount Keren.

Biden's Statements

In his statements since Hamas launched its attacks, Biden has repeatedly emphasised his shock at the breadth and brutality of Hamas' land, sea and air attacks, which have surprised Israeli and US intelligence and killed hundreds of Israelis and wounded many more. Last Tuesday, for example, President Joe Biden accused Hamas of "sheer evil" for its shocking multi-pronged offensive against Israel from the Gaza Strip, which has killed hundreds of civilians, including at least 14 American citizens. 

Biden authorised his team to share military intelligence to support the Israelis. He also said the United States believes that Americans are among the dozens of people held hostage by Hamas, saying, "As president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans held hostage around the world."

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Tuesday. Biden spoke of the steps he and other allies had taken to support Israel in the aftermath of the attack and expressed dismay at "sickening" reports of torture of innocent civilians by militants. Then came his expected statement: "Make no mistake. The United States of America stands behind Israel. We will ensure that the Jewish and democratic state of Israel will be able to defend itself today and tomorrow as it has always been able to defend itself."

The United States is building up an exaggerated military build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean

Immediately after the attack, the Pentagon announced that it had begun deliveries of critical ammunition and military equipment to Israel. Apparently, logistical support to the Israeli Army will continue to be provided by the Pentagon.

In addition, the Biden administration decided to send an aircraft carrier task group to the Eastern Mediterranean. The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean to "deter any actor" seeking to escalate or expand the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the US Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is the world's largest aircraft carrier and the largest warship ever built. An aircraft carrier group (Carrier Strike Group - CSG) is a type of carrier battle group of the United States Navy. With approximately 7,500 personnel, usually an aircraft carrier, a destroyer fleet consisting of at least one cruiser, at least one cruiser, at least two destroyers or frigates, and 65 to 70 aircraft (fighter and support aircraft), a carrier strike group is understood to be a more powerful force than the combined air and naval forces of many countries.

Despite the presence of this size of force in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Pentagon did not want to leave the Ford task group alone. It decided to send another aircraft carrier, the Eisenhower, off the coast of Israel as part of a "show of force". The Eisenhower aircraft carrier is expected to join the USS Gerald R Ford and the strike task group within the next two weeks. Various sources shared the information that the Dwight D. Eisenhower Strike Group will leave the port of Norfolk next week. In addition to more than 5,000 troops, the group includes aircraft, the destroyers Gravely and Mason, and the cruiser Philippine Sea.

The Ford aircraft carrier strike group has been ordered to remain on standby in the eastern Mediterranean, close to the Israeli coast, to provide air support or Tomahawk-like cruise missiles if requested by Israel. The Ford aircraft carrier task group is also intended to prevent the war from escalating into a more dangerous regional conflict. The Pentagon says that US warplanes, destroyers and cruisers sailing with Ford will conduct naval and air operations that may include intelligence gathering, aircraft and missile strikes. The US, which sent the cruiser USS Normandy and the destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt with Ford, plans to reinforce the Ford aircraft carrier strike group with the Air Force's F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter jets stationed in regional countries. At present, a small contingent of US special operations forces continues to work with the Israelis to assist with planning and intelligence.

The Western world has been careful to appear to be on Israel's side, at least at the level of its leaders. Last Monday, in a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Biden emphasised the "legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people" and their decades-long struggle for sovereignty.

How is Biden's Israel-Palestine Performance?

Americans have a pessimistic view of Biden's performance on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. According to an August poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, six in 10 Americans (61%) said they disapprove of Biden's handling of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 

During the 2021 conflict, Biden tried not to speak publicly while privately pressuring Netanyahu to end the conflict. He did not make statements to the media criticising Israel and Netanyahu, and refrained from commenting in this context. According to White House officials at the time, President Biden did not speak out against the Israelis as the death toll in Gaza rose and tens of thousands of Palestinians were displaced by aerial bombardment. In each case, Biden preferred to remain behind the scenes.

However, it seems unlikely in the medium term that Biden will continue to side with Israel 'without saying a word' regarding the ongoing Israeli bombardment and the expected ground operation that is expected to follow. Because his rival Trump and the international community are in favour of a two-state solution. On the way to the elections, I believe that the extent to which Netanyahu can tolerate the revenge operation will also raise a question mark for Biden. Especially in the current circumstances, where it is unlikely that this conflict will end in a few weeks, it does not seem possible for the American leadership to side with Netanyahu and maintain its 'hawkish' attitude for a long time, in terms of the balances in American domestic politics. Someone will have to put a stop to Netanyahu, who continues to take revenge on innocent Gazans after the heat of the Hamas attack has passed and even forgotten. I think that domestic and international pressure on Biden in this direction may increase rapidly.

References

Aamer Madhani, Tara Copp and Darlene Superville, "Biden vows US resolve to back Israel as USS Ford enters region", The Associated Press, DefenseNews, 10 October 2023, https://www.navytimes.com/management/leadership/2023/10/10/biden-vows-us-resolve-to-back-israel-as-uss-ford-enters-region/

Tara Copp, "US military to move a carrier strike group in support of Israel", The Associated Press, DefenceNews, 8 October 2023, https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2023/10/08/us-military-to-move-a-carrier-strike-group-in-support-of-israel/?utm_campaign=dfn-ebb&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sailthru&SToverlay=2002c2d9-c344-4bbb-8610-e5794efcfa7d