US President Joe Biden is under pressure from the Democratic Party’s progressive wing to more forcefully condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza, but will not do so unless he wins a second term in office, a National Security Council official has told Project Veritas. 

Biden’s position on Israel is the result of careful “political calculations,” National Security Council policy adviser Sterlin Waters told an undercover reporter for Project Veritas, a conservative outlet known for its hidden-camera sting operations.

On one hand, Biden and his top aides need to tell Israel that “you’re not going to continue to lie, and bomb, and kill all these kids without facing serious consequences” to placate progressive voters, Waters explained in a video published by the outlet on Tuesday. However, If Biden did this, Waters continued, he would anger the “huge, powerful Jewish influence in Republican and Democrat politics” and face a smear campaign that would cost him this November’s presidential election.

“If Biden won again he could be much more forthright about saying ‘No’,” Waters stated. “[But] that is a second-term decision.”