Even the deaths of two Palestinian-American dual citizens in 2022 at the hands of Israeli soldiers did not prompt the Biden administration to adopt a more critical position towards Israel. In January, 78-year-old Omar Asaad was bound and gagged by Israeli soldiers, who left him lying on the ground for over an hour, where, due to freezing winter conditions, he died of a heart attack.115 The US State Department responded only with a request for Israeli ‘clarification’ over the circumstances of Asaad’s death.116 The high-profile murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh in May 2022 was confirmed by eyewitness testimony and digital forensic evidence117 to have been the result of deliberate Israeli sniper fire. In the immediate aftermath of the killing, Israel worked hard to obfuscate the facts surrounding her death,118 an effort which the Biden administration did nothing to challenge. A US report on Shireen’s death framed it as “unintentional” and refrained from explicitly assigning responsibility to Israel,119 further whitewashing her murder.120 On the very day that the report was published, US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides reassured the Israeli public that “this president loves Israel”,121 in a clear indicator that Israeli accountability is extremely far down the list of the Biden administration’s priorities. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have since admitted that there is a “high possibility” that Shireen Abu Akleh was “accidentally hit” by live Israeli fire but stated that they would not be launching any investigations and that they are “very proud of the conduct of [their] soldiers”.122 The Israeli Elections With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failing to negotiate a coalition government after the April 2019 elections, new elections were quicky tabled for September of that same year. This was the first time that two Israeli elections have taken place in the same calendar year, 115 Riyad Mansour, ‘Identical letters dated 14 January 2022 from the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council’ General Assembly A/ES-10/888–S/2022/30 (17 January 2022) <https://www.un.org/ unispal/document/death-of-80-year-old-omar-asaad-during-a-military-raid-on-the-village-of-jiljilya-letter-from-stateof-palestine-a-es-10-888-s-2022-30/> accessed 3 October 2022. 116 Ned Price, ‘Statement on Israeli Defense Forces Report on Death of Omar Assad’ (U.S. Department of State, 1 February 2022) <https://www.state.gov/statement-on-israeli-defense-forces-report-on-death-of-omar-assad/> accessed 3 October 2022. 117 Zeena Saifi and others, ‘“They were shooting directly at the journalists”: New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces’ (CNN, 26 May 2022) <https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/24/middleeast/ shireen-abu-akleh-jenin-killing-investigation-cmd-intl/index.html> accessed 3 October 2022. 118 Middle East Monitor, ‘B’Tselem: Israel Narrative about Killing Shireen Abu Akleh “Untrue”’ (Middle East Monitor, 12 May 2022) <https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220512-btselem-israel-narrative-about-killing-shireen-abuakleh-untrue/> accessed 3 October 2022. 119 Chris Gallagher, ‘Al Jazeera Reporter Likely Killed by Unintentional Gunfire from Israeli Positions, U.S. Says’ (Reuters, 4 July 2022) <https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/no-conclusion-reached-origin-bullet-that-killedpalestinian-american-journalist-2022-07-04/> accessed 3 October 2022. 120 David Gritten, ‘Shireen Abu Aqla: US Report on Journalist’s Death Unacceptable, Family Says’ (BBC, 5 July 2022) <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62048881> accessed 3 October 2022. 121 Haaretz, ‘“This President Loves Israel”: U.S. Ambassador Talks Biden Visit, Saudi Ties’ (Haaretz, 4 July 2022) <https:// bit.ly/3C4WYCI> accessed 3 October 2022. 122 Al Jazeera, ‘Israel says ‘high possibility’ its army killed Shireen Abu Akleh’ (Al Jazeera, 5 September 2022) <https:// www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/5/israel-probe-shireen-abu-akleh> accessed 3 October 2022. 22