Biden allies walk back comments seen as call for Israel cease-fire
President Biden’s re-election campaign embarked on some hasty clean-up work after statements attributed to the commander-in-chief were widely perceived as a call for Israel to cease operations against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace,” read a message from the @JoeBiden X account Tuesday afternoon.
“To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek,” Biden added. “We can’t do that.”
Several Republican lawmakers were enraged by the statement, which came as a pause in the fighting meant to allow the release of hostages held by Hamas entered its sixth day.
“Hamas seeks to massacre Jews and the only thing Hamas fears is overwhelming force,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) responded. “Pressuring Israel to let Hamas remain in power—which is what Biden is doing—is moral bankruptcy.”
“Because of pressure from Democrats I hope this isn’t the beginning of Joe Biden’s pivot away from Israel,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said. “Also, Mr. President, where are the American hostages?”
Since Friday, Hamas has released 81 hostages, including 61 Israelis, 19 Thai nationals and one four-year-old American girl, Abigail Edan. At least 159 remain in captivity in Gaza, including up to nine Americans.
Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz replied that the account was “just reposting a quote from President Biden’s speech on Friday” and “[n]ot at all” urging for an end to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.
“As he repeated in the same event, his support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas terrorists is as strong as ever,” Munoz said on X.
During the Friday speech announcing the release of hostages from Gaza, Biden reaffirmed Israel’s right to self-defense while also insisting on a two-state solution as an endgame to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I’ve encouraged the Prime Minister to — to focus on trying to reduce the number of casualties while he is attempting to eliminate Hamas, which is a legitimate objective he has,” Biden told reporters from Nantucket, Mass.
“That’s a difficult task, and I don’t know how long it will take,” he added. “My expectation and hope is that, as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, to bring this to an end as quickly as we can.”
Earlier in the address, the president had emphasized the need “to end this cycle of violence in the Middle East.”
“We need to renew our resolve to pursue this two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can one day live side by side in a two-state solution with equal measure of freedom and dignity,” he said.
“Two states for two peoples. And it’s more important now than ever.”
Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, called hopes of a peaceful resolution between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza “a giant lie.”
“A large majority of Palestinians in Gaza support the October 7th terrorist attacks, and they don’t want a two-state solution. They don’t want Israel to exist,” Redfern said.
“When Palestinians say ‘from the river to the sea…’ we should believe them.”
