President Joe Biden on Wednesday turned out of left field against the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria and repeated accusations that many Israelis believed had died with the show of inhuman brutality of “Palestinian” murderers on October 7. But Biden did it, suddenly appearing more like the VP of Barack Obama than the independent, pro-Israel president we hoped he would become.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, Biden suddenly let out this bit of lunacy. It began like a cogent idea: “I’m convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did — and I have no proof of this; just my instinct tells me — is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel and regional integration overall. And we can’t leave that work behind.”
At that moment something snapped, and Joe decided to chase after a familiar notion, that seemed like a good idea at the time: “And one more word on this. I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank that — pouring gasoline on fire is what it’s like. They — this was the deal. The deal was made, and they’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be, and it has to stop. They have to be held accountable. And it has to stop now.”
And the president’s next statement was: “Prime Minister — Mr. Prime Minister, I want to thank you for your partnership and your friendship, quite frankly, during this difficult hour.”
A senior moment? The president has had his share of those. It’s the reason why his approval rating is stuck at 40%, and why many Democrats consider staying home come November 5, 2024.
The Head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council and Chairman of the Yesha Council Shlomo Ne’eman responded to Biden’s out-of-left-field remark:
“We were surprised to see that US President Biden, who from the beginning of the war stuck to truth and justice, chose this evening in his statement to fall for the false campaign of B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence.
“Mr. President of the United States, ‘settler violence’ is a figment of the imagination of delusional leftist propaganda. The only ones who beat and kill women and children are PLO and Hamas terrorists. There is no difference between the horrible murder of Esther Horgan who went jogging in the forest in Neve Tsuf, or the 13-year-old Hillel Ariel who was murdered in her bed in Kiryat Arba, and the horrible massacre in Be’eri. The hatred is the same hatred, the goal is the same goal – to harm the Jewish people for being Jewish.
“The Arabs of the Land of Israel have had an independent Palestinian state in Gaza for years, which ended on October 7. This status quo will never return. We went out to fight so that a Palestinian state would not arise again and it will not. Don’t fall for the stories that are false blood libels – retract your statement and continue to unreservedly support our people and our country.”
To which the president would have most likely responded: “What statement?”
