It’s been a horrific past week in Palestine and a shameful one for Joe Biden, who continues to resist calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Last Wednesday, Biden landed in Israel, where he embraced Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Isaac Herzog. Reading from an Israeli script, Biden praised the country’s alleged democracy and refused to criticize its relentless assault on Gaza, which had already killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and a mere handful of Hamas officials. The Defense for Children International had just calculated that Israeli forces were killing a Palestinian child every fifteen minutes. Later that day, the United States vetoed a United Nations proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Brimming with the brazen confidence imparted by US backing, Israel bombarded, among other targets, a UN school in Gaza; a mosque in central Gaza; and a bakery in the crowded Nuseirat refugee camp, where many displaced civilians were seeking safety. Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza were slain the day of Biden’s visit.