Politico

On Saturday, Hamas militants from Gaza invaded southern Israel, massacring some 1000 people, including at least 27 Americans, and kidnapping an estimated 150 others, including some from the United States.

In a speech on Tuesday, President Joe Biden was swift to denounce Hamas and support Israel in unequivocal terms, saying that, “Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond — indeed has a duty to respond — to these vicious attacks.”

The headlines written about that speech emphasized Biden’s moral clarity and his righteous anger.

This was the easy part: condemning vicious terrorists who had just murdered hundreds of young people at a music festival.

That clarity has quickly given way to much murkier moral questions…

What does the United States do if Israel’s response violates the laws of war?

… and much more difficult tactical and strategic concerns…

How do we find and rescue American hostages?

How do we keep countries such as Iran from taking advantage of the conflict? 

How does Biden keep aid to Israel flowing when Congress is broken?

None of this is as simple as Biden’s initial response.

One of the people at the White House whose job it is to figure all of this out is Jon Finer, the president’s principal deputy national security adviser.

On this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Jon opens-up about how the administration is approaching some of the thorniest problems related to the war in Israel, including: striking the right balance between supporting Israel and expressing concerns about an extreme response; Biden’s warnings to Iran; and whether America should now consider itself at war with Hamas.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed an executive order directing the state to help ferry Americans out of Israel who were left stranded amid the conflict.

DeSantis’ order came just hours after the Biden administration announced it too would arrange charter flights for Americans stuck in Israel, beginning on Friday. Though some airlines are continuing to fly in and out of Israel, many others have stopped service, leaving tourists, foreign workers and Israelis scrambling to find ways out of the country.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said the federal government’s charter flights were ordered partly because of the decision by U.S. airlines not to fly into Israel for the near future.

The Florida governor’s order directs the Florida Division of Emergency Management to charter flights for stranded Florida residents and deliver supplies to Israel, Alecia Collins, a spokesperson for the agency, said. The governor estimates that 20,000 U.S. citizens, including Floridians, remain in Israel.

“This Executive Order will allow the State to carry out logistical, rescue and evacuation operations,” Collins said.

The FAA has recommended caution for pilots flying into and out of Israel but issued no restrictions.

DeSantis’ administration asserts that Americans stranded in Israel have reached out to the Florida governor’s office for help after they failed to receive a response from the U.S. Embassy in Israel. The governor’s executive order also criticizes the Biden administration for failing to make rescue plans, echoing rebukes from DeSantis that the White House has not done enough to help Americans.

“We will not leave our residents behind,” DeSantis said in a social media post.

DeSantis spokesperson Jeremy Redfern wrote in an email that the governor’s office received messages from 35 stranded travelers.

The DeSantis administration was also critical of the U.S. Embassy in Israel and a notification program for overseas travelers, also overseen by the U.S. Department of State, saying the agency has been unreachable for stranded Americans.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DeSantis’ support for Israel goes back to his days in Congress. Since becoming governor, DeSantis has also regularly supported increased security funding in the state budget for Jewish day schools. He even led a trade mission to Israel during his first term as governor in 2019.

The Biden administration has ruled out sending military personnel, including special forces, into Gaza as part of an attempt to free American hostages there.

But the decision, which was announced by a top White House official, could be revisited.

Three U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations said the determination was made that the current situation was exceedingly complex, posing challenges for U.S. and Israel leaders as they grapple with this hostage crisis.

The U.S. does not yet know where the hostages are held, the officials said. Gaza is notoriously dense, with a warren of tunnels, and officials believe that hostages — whether American or Israeli — would be spread out and likely not held together, housed in separate underground areas and with innocent civilians in an effort to make any rescue operation that much more difficult. Additionally, U.S. officials believe the quality of Israeli intelligence in the area has slipped — as evidenced by the stunning success of last weekend’s Hamas sneak attacks — and there has been a paucity of reliable information from the area.

Further complicating the situation, U.S. officials said, is that Hamas consists of numerous and often competing subgroups and militias that all operate in Gaza. Before the U.S. can put together a plan to recover hostages, officials first have to figure out which of those Hamas subgroups may be holding them.

And so, for now, the U.S. is deferring to the Israeli special forces, who have far greater experience in Gaza. A team of American military specialists has arrived in the region and is consulting with their Israeli counterparts about possible plans of action. Among other elements, U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command have offered to provide hostage rescue planning and intelligence support to the Israelis.

But, as principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said Thursday on MSNBC, “We are not contemplating U.S. boots on the ground for any sort of rescue mission.”

“This is one of the most difficult aspects of what will be a very difficult operational environment for Israeli forces,” Finer added. “It’s a difficult place to fight, it’s an easier place to hide. It’s an intelligence problem, how do you actually find these people? And once you do find them, if you do find them, how do you negotiate their release or try operationally to remove them?”

The Biden administration has convened a series of meetings across a number of agencies on the fate of the hostages, who are deemed to be in great physical peril — as well as a potential political problem for a president seeking reelection.

At this moment, the U.S. does not know precisely how many Americans are being held hostage by the Hamas terror group, according to the officials. Fourteen Americans remain missing in the wake of the weekend attacks but many are presumed dead or could eventually turn up safe, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at Thursday’s White House press briefing. Kirby also confirmed that the number of Americans killed in the attacks is now known to be 27.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that he believed that only a “handful” of Americans are currently being held by Hamas, as he stood alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.

The U.S. is working closely with Israel to recover hostages in Gaza, with FBI and Pentagon personnel on the ground in Israel providing support to Israeli special operators.

An interagency team of U.S. officials from the State Department, National Security Council and FBI is receiving input from all over about the Americans who are missing or deceased in Israel, officials said. Family members and friends have reached out to the embassy about loved ones, and that information has been compiled alongside work that the FBI has been doing.

The administration is working through phone calls that have been coming into the U.S. Embassy in Israel, the FBI and the White House from friends and relatives of Americans believed to be missing. Some of these phone calls have been based on eye-witness accounts of people being taken by Hamas. But one difficulty has been trying to verify secondhand accounts.

Qatar and Turkey have offered to serve as intermediaries when negotiating with Hamas. There are U.S. special forces on the ground in Israel who were already deployed to the region but they will not be used in a rescue mission, officials said.

President Joe Biden, for his part, has stressed that it is his intent to bring all of the missing Americans home.

“We want to make it real clear. We’re working on every aspect of the hostage crisis in Israel, including deploying experts to advise and assist with recovery efforts,” Biden told the American Jewish leaders at the White House this week. “There’s a lot we’re doing, a lot we’re doing. I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home.”

A week after President Joe Biden’s dog, Commander, was removed from the White House following a series of biting incidents involving staff members and the Secret Service, one member of Congress is demanding details about what kind of workplace safety measures are in place to protect workers at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, sent a letter to Biden and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su on Wednesday morning to request recent annual reports and “any employee workplace safety complaints filed with [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] or any office or agency within the White House since January 20, 2021.”

“The White House has the responsibility to set an example for ensuring workplace safety and health for its employees. Unfortunately, it has recently come to our attention that it is failing to uphold this responsibility,” Foxx wrote, citing “recent reports concerning White House staff and U.S. Secret Service personnel regularly incurring dog bites,” which, she said, “indicate that occupational hazards are prevalent at the White House.”

Over the summer, 196 pages of internal communications made public after a Freedom of Information Act request from the conservative legal organization Judicial Watch unveiled that Commander, Biden’s 2-year-old German shepherd, was involved in several biting incidents — including one that sent a Secret Service agent to the hospital.

In September, the Secret Service confirmed that Commander bit another Secret Service agent, bringing the total number of reported incidents to 11. On Thursday, CNN reported that that number is higher, and includes members of White House staff beyond the Secret Service — after which Commander was promptly removed from the White House campus.

Commander was the second Biden dog to be sent away from the White House. Major, also a German shepherd, was sent to live with friends of the family after his own biting incidents.

Foxx wrote the letter to remind the White House that it is “not immune to the laws of the land,” she told POLITICO in an interview.

“If 10 people had accidents in a private plant, or if there had been dog bites in a private plant, I’ll guarantee you OSHA would have been down on the heads of the owners and operators of that plant,” she added.

OSHA’s standards for federal employees differ slightly from that for public sector employees. But federal law does require agencies to “establish and maintain an effective and comprehensive occupational safety and health program,” and to report occupational accidents and injuries annually to the secretary of Labor.

Though the legal recourse available to staffers on the receiving end of a Commander bite is murky, the most likely path for redress would be through a workers’ compensation claim, John Mahoney, a D.C.-based federal employment lawyer, told POLITICO.

“The Secret Service employees are federal employees, so they could file workers’ compensation claims through the agency which would go up to the Department of Labor, in case ultimately they have injuries or they need medical attention or they lose time at work because of the bites,” Mahoney said. “They cannot sue. … You’re dealing with the Executive Office of the White House, the president, so they’re exempt from a lot of statutes that would apply in the private sector.”

The most pressing political challenge confronting President Joe Biden as he drifts uncontested toward renomination is that which he can do the least about: voters’ profound misgivings about his age and fitness to serve another full term.

Yet what’s striking, and to his allies increasingly unnerving, is Biden’s unwillingness even to try to fully address questions about his capacity to run for reelection next year, when he’ll turn 82.

Outside of testing a with-age-comes-wisdom riff in front of donors, the president has done little to confront perhaps the biggest threat to his reelection, let alone make any sustained effort to mitigate the concerns that dominate every survey and focus group.

Biden takes an exacting interest in the mechanics of his nascent campaign, insisting on approving advertisements and interviewing would-be staffers. He is, however, less willing to be handled, which makes it difficult for his advisers to raise such a sensitive matter.

Biden has conducted little polling on how to reassure voters about his age, complains bitterly about his intra-party critics who raise the issue in public and is unwilling to consider hearing aids, according to Democrats close to him.

He can’t slow the march of time, of course, and nor can he fully defuse the issue. But Biden can do more than to ad-lib a joke about being 110 years old. His own supporters and lawmakers are all but pleading with him to take the matter seriously, because simply saying “watch me,” as he often retorts when asked about his age, is precisely the problem: people are and it’s still the overriding issue troubling them the most about his candidacy.

Nobody, at least outside Biden’s inner circle, is more acutely aware of the threat posed by the president’s perceived limitations than those Democrats facing difficult reelections themselves, who invariably hear about voters’ alarm about Biden when at home. Rep. Hillary Scholten, who represents a historically Republican slice of Western Michigan, said Biden could be helped by an intraparty challenge because he’d be able to demonstrate his fitness.

“Only positive things could come from an open and competitive primary in the presidential election,” said Scholten, who wants Biden to run again. “It is a detriment to all of us if we are ignoring the concerns of the public around the president’s image.”

Democrats, she said, should “get more people out there, what are we afraid of? It’s problematic that we’re ignoring it. It makes us look out of touch, it makes us look afraid.”

With filing deadlines looming and nearly every ambitious Democrat falling in line behind Biden for fear of weakening him, and their own future prospects, ahead of a rematch against Donald Trump, a full-scale primary is unlikely. Yet Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) is still weighing a bid, and the Democratic lawmaker group texts are filled with admiration that somebody is at least highlighting the donkey in the room — if acknowledging that they could never say so publicly.

While Phillips is not yet ready to embark on a clean-for-Dean candidacy in New Hampshire, he’s warming to the idea ahead of the filing deadline there later this month and would likely plant a flag in the historically quirky state if he runs.

Phillips has telephoned a handful of Democratic strategists with high-level presidential experience to seek their opinions and is pursuing inspiration from an even higher power in the party: he was seen recently in the Capitol toting a copy of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage.

With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now embarking on an independent candidacy, the Minnesotan could pose the only challenge Biden faces in New Hampshire, where the president is not competing because of the party’s calendar change but could be the beneficiary of a write-in campaign organized by prominent local Democrats.

Not all House Democrats are so enamored with Phillips’ musings — Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) upbraided him at a recent caucus meeting, I’m told by attendees. He’s resigned from a junior House leadership position and is now facing the possibility of a primary of his own in his Twin Cities-area district from a member of the Democratic National Committee, an affiliation Phillips does not find coincidental.

Most House Democrats, though, are more anxious about Biden than they are about their colleague from Minnesota.

Last month at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, many lawmakers watched livestreams of focus groups with voters in Nevada and Michigan. Nearly all of them responded to questions about Biden the same way voters do in every focus group: by bringing up his age. (Though one attendee was heartened that the voters also cited Trump’s age and complained that both are too old.)

Every Democratic consultant I’ve talked to in recent weeks said that’s the only refrain they pick up on Biden.

One pollster, who late last month oversaw a focus group of North Carolina swing voters, said the first word or phrase the attendees used about Biden was “some combination of ‘old, slowing down’ or, if they were harsher, ‘dementia or feeble.’”

This pollster had to push participants to get any more impressions of Biden and there was scant recall of his accomplishments.

Democratic lawmakers couldn’t be more direct about how imperative it is for the president to try to assuage voters’ trepidation about his capacity to serve.

“I think you got to be as public as you possibly can in addressing issues, and that’s how you can settle it,” Sen. Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat, said about Biden’s age. “But it’s not going to be easy because he is [going to be] 82 years old.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) was even more to the point. “I think it’s important to confront it.”

Biden’s high command has plainly made a cost-benefit analysis that there’s far less to be gained than there is to lose by increasing the president’s public profile. One strong public performance that few may see would, at this moment in the political calendar, do less to bolster his image than another spill such as the one he suffered earlier this year at the Air Force Academy would exacerbate doubts about his capacity.

He does few interviews, and mostly with friendly interlocutors, rarely holds full-dress news conferences and his aides mitigate his international travel by lightening his schedule after the trips.

Biden has travelled more domestically since announcing his reelection bid because, unlike the internet-dependent Trump, the president must hold in-person fundraisers around the country to build his war chest. That Biden speech honoring the late John McCain in Phoenix, for example, was scheduled in concert with an Arizona fundraiser.

When he’s not on the road for finance trips, many of his messaging events take place in metropolitan Washington or Philadelphia, which he can easily get to from his Delaware home (Biden will, once again, return to Philadelphia this Friday for an economic event).

Biden’s decision to skip the San Francisco memorial service for Dianne Feinstein — his longtime colleague and early 2020 supporter — because it would have required a quick there-and-back surprised Democrats on both coasts.

More worrisome to them than Biden’s travel are his difficulties delivering an effective argument, particularly on the economy. Even when handed good news, as he was last week with the higher-than-expected jobs report, the president is unable to leverage it to make an affirmative case for himself or against Republicans.

Asked by a reporter why, despite the broad availability of work, Americans weren’t feeling better about the economy, Biden didn’t offer an empathetic response about the cost-of-living challenge posed by inflation. And he didn’t use the question to lash Republicans for their lack of solutions or ties to detested special interests. He answered by grumbling about press coverage and recounting an old saw about a dog in a lake.

Yes, Biden being Biden, he may have offered the same answer 20 years ago. Yet he wouldn’t have looked and sounded like he did last week — and the political moment wouldn’t have demanded that he, yes, do better.

To all this, Biden defenders can be counted on to trot out the argument that his critics have been mostly wrong about his political and legislative prospects since early 2019, before he even entered the primary. Said argument has the added value of being mostly true.

Yet like the claim that, because he beat Trump once he’s best suited to do so again, this argument is compelling right up until the moment it’s not.

In their more honest moments, even the most dedicated Biden defenders not on his payroll will nervously wonder if in the future they’ll look back at this moment and realize that the electorate had concluded he was too old for another term —- and he ignored the flashing red lights to barrel ahead anyway.

Most Democrats, though, are more fixated on the here and now and how exactly Biden can assuage doubts about his fitness. Of course, there’s no consensus on what he can do.

Some prefer a light touch, Ronald Reagan in that 1984 debate joking about Walter Mondale’s “youth and inexperience,” but with more consistency.

“Reagan didn’t go to Georgetown and give an hourlong address about the issue,” said Paul Begala, the longtime Democratic strategist.

Other influential Democrats, though, believe Biden owes the electorate more than humor.

One figure with extensive West Wing experience said the president should sit for a “60 Minutes” interview with the first lady and take every question about his age directly, explaining that they love the country and would never embark on another race if he was not up for it.

It may all seem like so much advice from the gallery, the same crowd that Biden likes to say never really got him, man.

At some point, though, Biden will need to grapple directly with the question: How can you assure the country you’re capable of serving another four-year term?

The president likes to cite the old line from former Boston Mayor Kevin White — compare me to the alternative not the Almighty — but I’m reminded of the bumper sticker from when the ethically flexible Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards was running against Klansman David Duke: “Vote for the Crook: It’s Important.”

Next year, it may be Biden running against the crook, and perhaps one about to be sentenced, but will he be willing to say: Vote for the Codger: It’s Important?

President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried the brutal Hamas attack that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians as an act of “sheer evil,” and confirmed American hostages were among those taken in the assault.

In a nod to the lengthy conflict ahead, he also appealed to Congress to support aid for the U.S. ally.

“When Congress returns, we’re going to ask them to take urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners,” Biden said, acknowledging a demand for aid for both Israel and the ongoing war in Ukraine. “This is not about party or politics. It’s about the security of our world. The security of the United States of America.”

The White House address marked the president’s second public response amid the eruption of violence in Israel, and came shortly after Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the administration’s support for the nation. Since Biden first delivered remarks on Saturday after Hamas’ surprise assault on the country, ghastly images have surfaced from the attacks and Israel’s forceful counterattack, fueling fears the conflict might spiral into a larger war.

The carnage has also directly touched the United States: The president, flanked by Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said at least 14 Americans were among those killed in Israel — an increase from the previously announced toll of 11.

“There are moments in this life … when a pure unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. People of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas, a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews. So as an act of sheer evil, more than 1,000 civilians slaughtered in Israel,” Biden said.

“Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach-turning reports of babies being killed. Entire families slain. Young people were massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace, to celebrate peace. Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies.”

Biden’s speech comes as the crisis piles on to a growing list of pressures facing the president — posing yet another delicate foreign policy challenge as he seeks reelection, while largely pinning his case on his ability to remain a steady head during times of turmoil.

The president and his top advisers over the weekend held calls with dozens of foreign leaders and allies, pulling together a response while fielding Israel’s requests for aid. The Biden administration surged weapons to Israel on Monday, sending air defenses and munitions.

“So in this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. And we will make sure it has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, respond to this attack,” Biden said.

But Biden’s vows of support also come as the administration navigates growing turmoil at home, with the House lacking a speaker and any coherence for how to rapidly deliver the help that may be needed abroad.

The White House and some Senate lawmakers, including Republican leader Mitch McConnell, have suggested the possibility of folding aid to Israel into a pre-existing funding package for Ukraine. But House Republicans skeptical of sending more money to Ukraine have already signaled they’d oppose such an effort, and there is likely little that Congress can accomplish overall until the GOP settles on a new leader.

The White House has kept in close touch with Senate and House leaders and appropriators, though officials said they’ve not yet settled on a specific path forward for passing any aid. The administration does not expect that Israel will need Congress to approve any additional aid for at least the next several days, giving senators time to return to Washington next week and negotiate its next steps.

WASHINGTON — The United States on Tuesday formally declared the ousting of Niger’s democratically elected president a coup d’etat, more than two months after mutinous soldiers seized power.

Senior administration officials told reporters that the U.S. was taking action after exhausting all avenues to preserve constitutional order in the West African nation, including urging the military leaders to restore civilian rule within four months in compliance with the constitution. The coup designation comes with the suspension of counterterrorism assistance and military training as well as the pausing of certain foreign assistance programs worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

“As time has passed it’s become clear that the (junta) officials that we’ve been dealing with did not want to abide by these constitutional guidelines and in fact they’ve told us that they’ve chosen to repeal that constitution and are in the process of creating a new draft with an uncertain timeline,” said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

U.S. Ambassador to Niger Kathleen FitzGibbon remains in the country and has been in contact with the military junta, called the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, or CNSP, to address U.S. staff protection and logistical needs.

Any resumption of suspended assistance will require action by the CNSP to usher in democratic rule in a quick and credible timeframe and the release of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum who’s been under house arrest with his wife and son since July, the administration officials said.

In August, Niger’s military rulers said they would restore constitutional order within three years and would decide on the country’s roadmap through the results from a national dialogue. They haven’t specified when Bazoum and his family will be released.

Under U.S. law, a formal determination of a coup — the unconstitutional overthrow of a democratically elected government — typically results in a suspension of all non-humanitarian assistance, particularly military aid and cooperation, to the country concerned.

The Biden administration had been delaying a coup decision because Niger plays a critical role in U.S. counterterrorism activity in Africa’s Sahel region and is seen by many countries as one of the last democratic nations in the region to partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali have had two coups each since 2020.

The U.S. had made Niger its main regional outpost for wide-ranging patrols by armed drones and other counterterror operations against Islamic extremist movements that over the years have seized territory, massacred civilians and battled foreign armies. The bases are a critical part of America’s overall efforts in West Africa and Niger, hosting more than 1,000 troops in the country.

In the months since July’s coup the U.S. has drawdown some of its troops and moved others from the air base near the capital Niamey, to another in Agadez about 560 miles (900 kilometers) away.

While a sizeable footprint remains in the country, those troops are not conducting either partnered training or counterterrorism missions, administration officials said, raising questions as to why they were staying.

The U.S. officials said that drone-based surveillance operations will continue and be limited to force protection. Yet officials also acknowledged that troops needed to remain to monitor threats “more broadly in the region” to ensure the security vacuum in Niger doesn’t create an opportunity for terrorist cells to exploit.

While the coup declaration comes with consequences, it reflects the reality of the situation, which indicates that the ousting of Bazoum is unlikely to be reversed, said Peter Pham, former U.S. special envoy for West Africa’s Sahel region and a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council.

“The question then becomes, how do we best deal with this new reality?” he said.

“Pragmatism will better serve the long-term interests of both the people of Niger and those of the United States. After all, who would likely benefit if the progress in counterterrorism and development cooperation of recent years was sacrificed altogether just to virtue signal? Jihadist and other malevolent actors, including geopolitical rivals and/or their proxies,” he said.

Biden administration officials want Israel to retaliate against the vicious Hamas attack in a “proportionate” manner, but they won’t say if there are any lines Jerusalem shouldn’t cross.

Israel is responding to the worst attack it has faced in 50 years by pummeling Gaza with airstrikes and besieging the coastal strip, killing nearly 700 in the enclave home to 2.3 million people. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized, Israel is at war and embarking on a campaign to significantly weaken the threat posed by Hamas.

To put what happened in perspective, the U.S. Holocaust Museum posted on X on Monday that “We just witnessed the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.” As of Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said more than 1,000 Israelis have been killed.

President Joe Biden and his team repeat that Israel has every right to respond to the violence. But it was unclear if Washington asked Israel to refrain from certain maneuvers, either out of fear the conflict could escalate further or to keep Israel skeptics in the Democratic party from raising complaints.

No such request appears to have been made so far.

“We remain focused on holding the terrorists accountable for their attacks, and we support Israel taking necessary and proportionate action to defend its country and protect its people, and in doing so U.S. citizens living, working and traveling in Israel,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in an emailed statement. At least 11 Americans in Israel are confirmed dead from the attacks, with the administration noting it’s possible U.S. citizens are among Hamas’ hostages.

In previous crises in the region, the Biden administration has taken a paced response. Initially, the U.S. — at least in public — appears to give Israel carte blanche in its response. Over time, Washington ramps up the pressure to compel Jerusalem to agree to a ceasefire. (Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement on X two days ago calling for a cease-fire before it was deleted.) This is the playbook Biden used in 2021 during a much smaller skirmish between Israel and Hamas, ending the conflict in 11 days.

Israel is stressing the need to operate to the full extent of its military capabilities and so far, the Biden administration appears to be listening. Netanyahu told Biden “we have to go in” to Gaza, explaining that a ground invasion was the only way to root out Hamas, Axios reported. “Biden did not try to press Netanyahu or convince him not to go through with a ground operation,” according to the report.

Biden and national security adviser Jake Sullivan are slated to address the crisis later Tuesday. The way they talk about the risk to civilians in Gaza could give a sense of how far they’re willing to go in trying to limit Israel’s response.

The administration doesn’t want civilians in Gaza to suffer for Hamas’ alleged war crimes, even though the Israeli Defense Forces already noted some will unfortunately die, largely because Hamas has offices in buildings near homes, schools and businesses.

Asked by a reporter whether the administration had warned Israel in any way not to target civilians, the NSC’s John Kirby notedthat Israel was counterattacking “aggressively, and given the size and scale and the scope of the violence, we understand where that’s coming from.” But, Kirby continued, Israel as a democracy shares values with the United States “when it comes to [the] law of war and respect for life.”

Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer reiterated that point in a Monday night interview on MSNBC, saying, “It is our advice that this war be conducted based on principles of international law.”

That suggests that while there hasn’t been a warning, there is trust within the administration that Israel will do what it can to protect noncombatant Gazans. Meanwhile, Israel has called up around 300,000 reservists to help with the campaign against Hamas — a campaign Netanyahu is talking about in severe terms.

“We have only started striking Hamas,” he said Monday. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”

The White House is scrambling to react to a combination of crises that, like few times before, are testing President Joe Biden’s ability to project the steadiness he pledged to bring to the office.

The outbreak of violence in Israel, with fears that it could erupt into a larger war, represents the latest — and potentially most difficult. The ongoing war in Ukraine, meanwhile, shows little sign of resolution, with Republicans souring on Biden’s requests for further military assistance. A looming government shutdown threatens critical programs. Republicans ousted their speaker, producing historic chaos in the House. The surging number of migrants at the border has left the administration searching for answers. And the persistent United Auto Workers strike could soon have tangible economic ripple effects.

Democrats fear that the stress tests on the administration are piling up — and that the West Wing may be overburdened. Republicans, and (in private) even some White House allies, argue that the president isn’t doing enough publicly to show support for Israel or to underscore that the administration recognizes the severity of the tragedy.

West Wing aides and Democrats close to the White House described an administration keenly aware that its handling of the next several days and weeks could fundamentally define Biden’s legacy — and shift the trajectory of his reelection bid. They continue to argue that Biden’s resume shows that he has a steady hand at a time of turmoil, even as he remains underwater in the polls.

But for the second straight day, Biden also stayed entirely out of the public eye, confirming the deaths of 11 Americans in the attacks in Israel — and the likelihood that Americans were among the hostages still being held captive — through a written statement. Biden’s sole address to the nation in the wake of the attacks came hours after it, though it was announced that he would make public remarks on the crisis Tuesday. Since Saturday, he had stayed behind closed doors as cable news and social media were filled with gruesome images of the Hamas attacks and Israel’s swift, punishing counterattack.

White House aides downplayed the president’s lack of public presence by stressing the work he’s doing behind the scenes.

Top Biden officials have publicly vowed full support for Israel’s counteroffensive, while working behind the scenes to head off the potential for a widening war. Biden and his top advisers spent the weekend dialing dozens of foreign leaders and allies around the region, constructing a strategy on the fly to manage the aftermath and evaluate the fresh aid requests that Israel will make for a war that it has already predicted will be “long and difficult.” It was all being done as the president himself sat down for interviews with the special counsel team investigating his handling of classified documents from his time as vice president.

On Monday evening, the U.S. and four European allies jointly pledged to provide “steadfast and united support” to Israel.

“We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage,” said the joint statement, which was signed by the U.S., France, Germany, Italy and the U.K.

But that hasn’t quieted the critics, who note that presidents often use the bully pulpit to project a sense of calm during a crisis, or as a means of showing support or empathy toward the affected communities.

“Presidents have a responsibility to demonstrate U.S. resolve and leadership at moments like this,” said Rory Cooper, former House Republican leadership aide and partner at Purple Strategies. Biden could go to a “synagogue and pray with the Jewish community, or if you were to go to the embassy and sign a condolence book, which is frankly almost boilerplate for a U.S. president at moments like this.”

The culminating crises that Biden faces will provide one of the sharpest tests to date of his team’s theory that the public will recognize and ultimately reward a steady, not flashy, hand at the helm. Biden won the presidency largely by portraying himself as seasoned, a traditionalist and an antidote to the chaos that often surrounded his predecessor, Donald Trump.

While such a formula hasn’t always translated while he’s been in office, Biden has deployed it time and again, including over the past few days.

“The biggest challenge for the White House is bandwidth. We’re dealing with border issues, a government shutdown crisis, a bunch of radicals in the House, then on top of all of that, Ukraine, now Israel,” said Pete Giangreco, a Democratic consultant who’s worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “But from a messaging standpoint, that’s all an opportunity because you can’t help but say, ‘at least this guy knows what he’s doing on the world stage.’ People don’t normally vote on foreign policy, but it goes to ‘can he do the job,’ which is a central contrast for us.”

Complicating matters for the White House has been the uncertainty in Congress. The House of Representatives currently has no speaker, placing confusion around what type of legislative response the government could even muster.

Administration officials briefed Congressional leaders in bipartisan calls Sunday that one lawmaker described as “an American family conversation” despite confusion over whether former Speaker Kevin McCarthy could participate.

Those officials also informed lawmakers Sunday evening that there is no need for action from Congress in the immediate term, but that a supplemental bill would be necessary. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said he’s not aware of any request for additional war powers “at this time.”

While Ukraine and Israel need different military support, addressing both conflicts stretched defense suppliers thin.

“This war is going to be lengthy,” warned Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “It’s going to require some munitions and armaments which quite frankly our current military industrial supply base is stretched in producing as it is. So we’re going to need to really think this through, and I think that the chaos in the other caucus is not helping matters.”

The White House is already struggling to marshal support for another round of aid to Ukraine amid objections from Republicans that Biden has not laid out a clear vision for continued U.S. involvement in the war. The likely need for the U.S. to now provide some level of aid to Israel threatens to further complicate the dynamics on Capitol Hill, and the effort to sell the public on long-term involvement in two foreign conflicts.

“I do think President Biden needs to make the case for why Americans should care [about Ukraine],” said Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama era. “You’ve got to explain it. You can’t just assume people understand.”

Alternatively, some aides on Capitol Hill have speculated that the combination of a larger supplemental to address both conflicts may be easier to approve.

Biden had planned to deliver a high-profile speech on Ukraine as soon as this week aimed at more emphatically framing support for Kyiv as critical to America’s own national security interests, people familiar with the planning said. But it’s now unclear whether the conflict in the Middle East will affect the timing and content of those remarks.

The spasm of violence also could upend the United States’ work to lend a hand in normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. A senior administration official said the White House aimed to move forward with the plan.

Biden was also set to call regional allies to coordinate warnings to “anyone who might seek to take advantage in this situation,” namely Iran. Biden in the meantime has set aside his recent disagreements with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — most notably over the prime minister’s efforts to reshape the Israeli judiciary — by pledging direct support and security assistance for Tel Aviv.

That backdrop to the cascading foreign policy challenges is tumult on the domestic front.

In-fighting among House Republicans brought the federal government to the brink of a shutdown not even two weeks ago. The short-term solution, a continuing resolution, has created another looming funding deadline but also cost McCarthy his job.

Congress only has until Nov. 17 to avert another shutdown — a steep challenge that will now require the White House and Republicans to determine a path forward on Israel, as well as bridge existing standoffs over Ukraine aid, the border and a GOP blockade on the confirmation of top U.S. military promotions.

“It’s not only unprecedented,” said former Rep. Steve Israel, who now leads the Cornell University Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, “it is perilous.”

Elena Schneider contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden has been interviewed by the special counsel team investigating how classified documents from his time as vice president ended up at his office and home, the White House said Monday night.

The interview was conducted at the White House on Sunday and Monday and was done voluntarily, the administration added.