US President Joe Biden warned late Monday night on NBC News’ Late Night with Seth Myers “there are too many innocent people that are being killed” in Israel’s war against the Hamas terrorists who tortured and slaughtered at least 1,200 people while abducting 253 others during their invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023 — and who have since vowed to repeat that attack “over and over again” until there are no more Jews.
Biden also repeated his condemnation of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in particular, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Here’s the full transcript of his remarks about Israel’s war with Hamas:
“There is a path forward, with difficulty. But here’s the path forward. Look, first of all, there are — the hostages being held must be released. And we’ve got — at least, in principle — an agreement there will be a cease-fire while that takes place.
“Ramadan is coming up, and there’s been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan, as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out.
“That gives us time to begin to move in directions that a lot of Arab countries are prepared to move in. For example, Saudi Arabia is ready to recognize Israel. Jordan is, Egypt. There are six other states. I’ve been working with Qatar.
“And the bottom line is that I’m not — I think the only way Israel ultimately survives — and I make no bones about it — I get criticized for having said a long time ago, you need not be a Jew to be a Zionist. I’m a Zionist. Were there no Israel, there’s not a Jew in the world will be safe.
“But here’s the deal. They also have to make — take advantage of an opportunity to have peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians who are being used as pawns by — by the — by Hamas.
“And so there’s a process under way that I think if we get that — that temporary cease-fire, we’re going to be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic and not have a two-state solution immediately, but a process to get to a two-state solution, a process to guarantee Israel’s security and the independence of the Palestinians, but without them being able to, for example, invite in the — you know, another country to provide their defenses.
“There’s ways to do this. And I don’t have time to go into it now, but — and in the meantime, there are too many innocent people that are being killed. And Israel has slowed down the attacks in Rafah. They have to — And they’ve made a commitment to me. They’re going to see to it that there’s ability to evacuate significant portions of Rafah before they go and take out the remainder of Hamas. But it’s a process.
“And look, Israel has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations. If it keeps this up without — this incredibly conservative government, they have, and Ben-Gvir and others — most — I’ve known every major foreign policy leader in Israel since Golda Meir — they’re going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel’s interest.”
Now let’s do the fact check.
1. There is no ceasefire agreement in place at the present time, and it appears increasingly unlikely that one will be reached before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan simply because the Hamas terrorist organization is completely unwilling to compromise on its insistence that the Israel Defense Forces leave the Gaza Strip, that the ceasefire be permanent (“at least 10 years” — just enough time for Hamas to rebuild its military force and infrastructure), that the buildings destroyed in combat with the Hamas terrorists be rebuilt by Israel and everyone else, and that Hamas remain in place as the governing body over the enclave. “Delusional demands,” Netanyahu called them. And they are.
2. Hamas has no intention of releasing all the hostages, or even most of them. The hostages are the insurance policy of the Hamas leadership, their “human shields” along with the civilian population.
3. Saudi Arabia is not willing to recognize Israel. This is total nonsense. Riyadh has made such recognition conditional upon the establishment of a Palestinian state and the withdrawal of Israel to its pre-1967 borders, giving gives up half of its capital city, Jerusalem, for use as a capital by the Palestinian Authority, in addition to expelling more than half a million Israeli citizens from their homes and communities in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. This is not only unrealistic: it would be national suicide if it were to take place, leaving Israel only nine miles wide at its central region and beneath the mountainous ridge of Samaria from which any rocket or missile — or even artillery fire — could be aimed at the Jews below. Not happening. Israel expelled close to 10,000 of its citizens in 2005 from nearly two dozen towns in the Gush Katif section of Gaza and northern Samaria, a move that led directly to the situation in which Israel finds itself in today.
4. A two-state solution was declared dead a long time ago; with due respect to President Joe Biden — who echoed the same sentiments as Vice President Biden in the Obama Administration — the Palestinian Authority itself does not want a “two-state solution”. Its leadership has repeatedly, frequently declared its intention to replace the Jewish State with its own, and has reinforced this concept by brainwashing its population beginning in early childhood with children’s television programming and summer camp programs lauding “heroic” terrorists who murdered Israelis and Jews and praising the sanctity of dying as a “martyr” while attempting to slaughter more. Palestinian Authority schoolbooks are replete with references to the “occupied cities” of what it calls “Palestine” — such as Ashdod, Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva, Haifa and more — in its school textbooks. Maps of “Palestine” span the entirety of the Jewish State, “from the river to the sea,” as pro-Hamas advocates proclaim around the world. The fantasy of a “two-state solution” that would provide “peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians” is just that: a fantasy.
5. The “incredibly conservative government, they have, and Ben-Gvir and others” is in fact the freely elected government of the State of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, and one that was chosen by a strong majority of the population. The Biden Administration is long overdue to offer the same respect for the Israeli electorate as it expects others to do with its own administration.
6. As for the claim “they’re going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel’s interest,” — the world has done precious little to support the State of Israel whenever it has been repeatedly forced by hostile neighbors to fight for its survival. And that has happened repeatedly since the state’s rebirth in 1948. Protestations of support rarely materialize into actual support when it comes to fighting for Israel in the United Nations and when they do, such support always comes with a very expensive price tag.
The world does not support Israel because of its actions; the world supports Israel — when it does — because there are political and security benefits to be had.
Israel provides its supporters with intelligence, defense systems, high-tech R&D centers, sterling quality medical research, agricultural expertise and cyber security solutions.
It’s not a one-way street by any means. And the world would do well to remember that if Israel loses its fight for survival, its Islamist extremist attackers have repeatedly made clear they will be coming for the rest of the Western world next.
