Crossing the Red Line: Biden, His Advisors, and Israel's War in Gaza
A powerful account of how the Biden administration fueled atrocities in Gaza, from an award-winning foreign affairs journalist.
Following Hamas’s horrific October 7 attack, Israel launched an offensive of staggering violence in Gaza, saying it targeted militants while regularly striking hospitals, schools, and homes. Critically acclaimed journalist Akbar Shahid Ahmedoffers extensive reporting and chilling new details about how the Biden administration enabled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—ignoring warnings from government experts and implicating Americans in thousands of apparent war crimes. Washington did little to free Israeli hostages or shield innocent Palestinians as protests grew nationwide and international human rights principles crumbled. Still, President Joe Biden denied he was giving Netanyahu a blank check. He set a “red line” over the town of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians were sheltering, saying an assault there would risk Israel’s pipeline of American bombs. Yet after Netanyahu’s advance began, deepening Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe, Biden’s team kept weapons flowing.
In vivid prose and with unparalleled access to insiders, Ahmed depicts a White House that resisted a course correction as its failures became undeniable. Crossing the Red Line is an urgent reckoning with Biden’s record on Gaza that is vital to understanding historic damage to America’s standing in the world, and a period whose dark consequences will resonate globally for decades to come.
Author Akbar Shahid Ahmed will be in conversation with Azmat Khan, Director, Simon and June Li Center for Global Journalism. Copies of Crossing the Red Linewill be available for purchase.
Registration required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/crossing-the-red-line-biden-his-advisors-and-israels-war-in-gaza-tickets-2001088565768?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true.
October 1, 2026, 6pm - 7:30pm.
Food will be served.
This event is sponsored by the Simon and June Li Center for Global Journalism at Columbia University.