"Babies being killed": A pragma-dialectical analysis of Biden's justification for the war on Gaza

The escalation of war in the Gaza strip, following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack has reignited questions about the justifications of disproportionate violence. In the wake of the attack, Israel launched a large-scale ground invasion that has left thousands of civilian deaths. President Biden responded with unwavering support for Israel. Through a pragma dialectical analysis of Biden’s early speeches, this study interrogates the argumentation strategies deployed to legitimise Israel’s aggression on over two million civilian residents. Analysis reveals that Biden’s rhetoric derailed from measured condemnation into feardriven moral polarization that invokes Holocaust and 9/11 memories to transform moral support into an international ‘duty’ to defend the “Jews around the world”. Each statement builds upon its predecessor to progressively marshal ad hominem and ad-baculum arguments that justify an “overwhelming” war. The findings contribute insights into the way language may be deployed in political discourse to mask asymmetries in power and suffering and eventually effect a shift from moral alignment into coercive persuasion in the justification of state violence.