Joe Biden gave a powerful speech condemning antisemitism in America and directly connected the Holocaust to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. He delivered the keynote address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance ceremony on Tuesday.
“On the sacred Jewish holiday, the terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Driven by ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people, babies, parents, grandparents, slaughtered in a kibbutz, massacred at a music festival, brutally raped, mutilated, and sexually assaulted.”
“Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and half months later and people are already forgetting. They are already forgetting. That Hamas unleashed this terror. It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten nor have you. And we will not forget.”
The protesters on college campuses haven’t really “forgotten.” They just don’t care. Like the simple-minded dullards they are, they equate what Hamas did on October 7 (if they believe it was actually Hamas and not a “false flag” operation by Israel) with Israel’s response and find that the scales aren’t balanced, that more Palestinians have been killed than Israelis and thus Israel is guilty of war crimes.
Biden acknowledges this and adds a powerful rebuttal.
“Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7, including Hamas’s appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. It’s absolutely despicable, and it must stop. Silence and denial can hide much, but it can erase nothing. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be married — buried — no matter how hard people try.”
Biden’s peroration tried to draw a line between legitimate protest and hate.
“It’s in moments like this we have to put these principles that we’re talking about into action. I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech. To debate, disagree, to protest peacefully, make our voices heard. I understand, that’s America. But there is no place on any campus in America — any place in America — for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind. Whether against Jews or anyone else. Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. And we are not a lawless country. We’re a civil society. We uphold the rule of law, and no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves.”
All in all, it was a very powerful, very moving speech. But Biden’s commitment to the Jewish state is entirely another matter. That same enemy who “raped, mutilated and sexually assaulted” 1,200 Jews on October 7, is being given new life by Joe Biden.
Biden is refusing to release 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs as Israel begins its final assault on the last five battalions of Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah.
Speaking against Hamas violence while enabling the terrorists to fight another day is a level of hypocrisy rare even for Biden. It made his beautiful, powerful speech absolutely meaningless.
U.S. officials had declined for days to comment on the halted transfer, word of which came as Biden on Tuesday described U.S. support for Israel as “ironclad, even when we disagree.”
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to square the arms holdup with Biden’s rhetoric in support of Israel, saying only, “Two things could be true.”
No, both cannot be true. You can’t support Israel with an “ironclad” resolve and not supply them with the arms they need to destroy their terrorist enemy.
One reason Biden might want Hamas to survive is the matter of who governs in Gaza after the war and the coming refugee crisis that could easily destabilize Egypt and cause chaos in the largest Arab state by population in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would no doubt love to occupy Gaza or install a pro-Israel government in the territory, but that’s not likely to happen. The international community will see to it that a successor to Hamas takes charge in Gaza. For Biden, that’s fine as long as the new Gaza government keeps the Palestinians on their side of the Egyptian border.
The aftermath of the war is going to be very messy and chaotic.