On October 10, Tuesday, United States President Joe Biden held an emotional speech in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, detailing in an unprecedented way the horrors caused by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attacks on Israel.
The horrified US President disclosed unprecedented and explicit details of the „sheer evil” inflicted by Hamas against Israel in his speech and promised to ensure that the Jewish state would have what it needs to respond to the shocking weekend onslaught, reports The Times of Israel.
„There are moments in this life — I mean this literally — when a pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world,” Biden said. „This is an act of sheer evil.”
Biden detailed some of the scenes from the attack. „Parents butchered, using their bodies to try to protect their children; stomach-turning reports of babies being killed; entire families slain; young people massacred while attending a musical festival… women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies,” he recounted with horror.
„There are still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones. Not knowing if they’re alive or dead or [being held] hostage. Infants in their mother’s arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors abducted and held hostage.”
„This is terrorism. But sadly, for the Jewish people, it’s not new,” Biden continued. „This attack has brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by millennia of antisemitism and genocide of the Jewish people.”
„Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination. Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people,” he asserted.
„Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond — indeed has a duty to respond — to these vicious attacks,” the president added.
Biden said he had one word — „Don’t” — for any of Israel’s adversaries who might try to get involved, in a clear message to long-term foe Iran, which backs Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, and stressed that he was ready to move „additional assets” if needed to show Washington’s backing for its ally and bolster its presence in the tense region.
Biden said he had spoken with Netanyahu about „how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law.”
The conflict has also created a hostage crisis for Washington, for which Biden will have few options for resolving. The president confirmed that at least 14 Americans were killed in the Hamas attacks, and several had been taken hostage.
In a readout of his call with Biden, Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister told the US leader, „We’ve never seen such savagery in the history of the state” nor „since the Holocaust.”
„They took dozens of children, bound them up, burned them and executed them. They beheaded soldiers, they mowed down these youngsters who came to a nature festival, you know, put five jeeps around this depression in the soil and like Babyn Yar, they mowed them down, making sure that they killed everybody.”
The White House on Monday confirmed that it has already begun delivering critically needed munitions and military equipment to Israel. The Ford carrier strike group arrived in the far Eastern Mediterranean. The Pentagon has said that the US warplanes, destroyers and cruisers that sailed with the Ford will conduct maritime and air operations, which could include intelligence collection, interdictions and long-range strikes.
The current conflict is not likely to end quickly, and domestic and international pressure could mount on Biden to pressure Netanyahu to wind down operations to prevent the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza.
Original article: The Times of Israel
Photo credit: Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP
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