President Joe Biden insisted on Wednesday that his support for Israel in the aftermath of the unprecedented terrorist assault on October 7 was “ironclad” and his administration would do “all [it] can to protect Israel’s security.”
The promise, offered during a joint press conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, followed remarks offered in an interview airing on Univisión on Tuesday in which Biden complained that he did not “agree” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s counterterrorism operations and demanded a ceasefire against the jihadist terrorists of Hamas without mentioning freeing the dozens of hostages still in captivity in Gaza.
Israel is currently engaged in an extended self-defense operation in Gaza, Hamas’s stronghold, intended to neutralize the threat of Hamas repeating the atrocities of October 7. On that day, terrorists invaded the country from Gaza and targeted residential communities, killing entire families in their homes, taking about 250 hostages, and engaging in gang-rape, torture, and other crimes against humanity. An estimated 1,200 people died in the October 7 siege. Hamas has not offered a total number of confirmed hostages remaining in captivity currently, but estimates suggest about 133 remain and 100 are still alive.
Israel has prioritized in its operations in Gaza the rescue of the hostages, some of whom are American.
U.S. President Joe Biden holds a press conference following a solidarity visit to Israel, on October 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden repeated his harsh criticism of Netanyahu in his remarks alongside Kishida, claiming that he had had “very blunt and straightforward” conservations with Netanyahu. He nonetheless insisted that his administration still supported Israel in its goal of ensuring its national security against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization financed by Iran.
Biden told reporters that he and Kishida “discussed developments in the Middle East, including our shared support for a ceasefire and a hostage deal and urgent efforts to deal with the humanitarian crisis that exists in Gaza.”
“We also want to address the Iranian threat to launch a sign- — they — they’re threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel,” Biden continued. “As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad. Let me say it again: ironclad. We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security.”
Biden recalled his campaign promise to “rebuild the muscle of our democratic alliances,” touting Japan as a key example of this despite the fact that Tokyo already maintained a robust relationship with the White House during the term of former President Donald Trump ,
“Our alliances are America’s greatest asset. The relationship with Japan is powerful proof of that — that in investing in our alliance and raising our collective ambitions, we yield remarkable results,” Biden said.
Elsewhere in the press conference, asked about his fraught relationship with Netanyahu, Biden admitted to being “very blunt and straightforward” with the Israeli leader, but insisted that his administration was committed “to getting their loved ones home, and we’re not going to stop until we do.” He also repeated National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s claim that the humanitarian aid Israel is sending into Gaza, which Hamas governs, is “not enough,” describing the quantity as “over a hundred trucks” of aid in three days.
U.S. President Joe Biden (L) meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Kishida, discussing their conversation on Israel, said that he offered his “respect” to Biden for his role in helping resolve the conflict.
“On the situation in the Middle East, I expressed my respect for the efforts of President Biden towards the release of the hostages, improvement of the humanitarian situation, and for calming down the situation,” the prime minister said. “I then explained how Japan is continuing diplomatic efforts to improve the humanitarian situation and to realize a sustainable ceasefire and agreed to continue close cooperation towards the improvement of the situation, the realization of a two-state solution, and the stabilization of the region.”
A “two-state solution” is a plan to carve out a state of “Palestine” to exist alongside Israel. The “two-state solution” is highly unpopular in Israel following October 7 and terrorist organizations such as Hamas do not accept it because they oppose the existence of Israel entirely.
Biden’s emphasis on the hostages being released on Wednesday was absent from his remarks to Univisión as aired on Tuesday. In that venue, Biden instead argued that Netanyahu’s approach to fighting Hamas was “a mistake” and demanded a “ceasefire” against the terrorists without mentioning freeing hostages.
“I think what he’s [Netanyahu] doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden said, condemning an airstrike that accidentally killed humanitarian workers with the World Central Kitchen (WCK) operating in Hamas territory.
“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden told Univisión. “I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They’re prepared to move in. They’re prepared to move this food in. And I think there’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now.”
The families of Hamas hostages still missing have called for prioritizing their release and condemned demands that Israel stop its self-defense operations without rescuing them.
“Bringing the hostages back should be the top priority. It should be the world’s top priority,” Orna Neutra, the mother of Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra, told CNN this weekend. “Everyone looking for de-escalation in the region should be opening the sentence saying, you know, ‘Release the hostages.’ Any demand of ceasefire without release of hostages is a death sentence to them.”
