President Biden in a Thursday phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that the United States would help defend Israel in the event of reprisal attacks from Iran in the wake of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran.
"The President reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis," the White House call readout stated.
Alarmingly, Biden also informed the Israeli prime minister that he is readying new deployments to the Middle East. This even as the US Commander-in-Chief was essentially forced to bow out his campaign for reelection due to health and mental acuity concerns, including speculation over dementia.
And all of this is happening with basically zero Congressional input, meaning a somewhat senile and elderly President Biden could be taking the nation into yet another war and Middle East quagmire with no additional oversight or Constitutional checks and balances whatsoever (of course, this is the entire legacy of the GWOT as well).
"The President discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive US military deployments," the readout continued.
The White House confirmed that Vice President and presumed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was on the call. Previously the administration and the Dems touted here supposed foreign policy experience and credentials.
On Wednesday, within hours after the Haniyeh assassination, Biden's Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was the first to announced that the Pentagon would play an active role in any potential Iranian attack on Israel:
"If Israel is attacked, we certainly will help defend Israel," U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, told the media aboard the USNS Millinocket during a visit to the Philippines. "You saw us do that in April; you can expect to see us do that again," he said.
The U.S., along with other Israeli allies like the U.K. and France, were involved in intercepting an unprecedented Iranian drone and missile barrage fired at Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen in mid-April. "We helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles," U.S. President Joe Biden said at the time.
Already according to The Washington Post the US has assembled 12 warships in Middle East regional waters prepared to respond to any attack on Israel. Currently the USS Theodore Roosevelt and six US Navy destroyers are in the Persian Gulf. An additional five Navy ships are already patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean, including two destroyers.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said the military is on "high alert", also as it monitors threats from Iranian-linked group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
This week also saw the assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, for which the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah is vowing a severe response. However, neither side appears to have the appetite for a bigger all-out war at this point which would plunge all of Lebanon into greater suffering.