This Was the Most Hostile, Anti-Israel SOTU Speech Ever. Biden’s Policies Clearly Intended to Harm Israel and Inadvertently Benefit Hamas and Radical Arabs.
Zionist Organization of America National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
After briefly mentioning: Hamas’ sexual violence and massacre of 1,200 innocent people on October 7th; the need to bring the hostages home; the fact that “Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7”; and stating that Israel has the right to go after Hamas, Biden outrageously spent almost three times as long falsely castigating and making dangerous demands on Israel during Biden’s March 7, 2024 State of the Union (SOTU) address. Biden’s policies are clearly intended to harm Israel and inadvertently support Hamas and radical Arabs. Among other things:
(1) Biden hypocritically claimed to be a great friend of Israel while demanding a Palestinian state “solution” that imperils Israel’s very existence.
Biden rewards Arab terrorism by wrongly calling for the creation of a Palestinian terror state on Israel’s longest border adjacent to 70% of Israel’s population on Israel’s lawful land, as the “only solution” and “only path.” A Palestinian state would endanger Israel’s very existence, cause more October 7ths and more rockets to fall on innocent Israelis, and reward and encourage more terrorism. On October 7, Palestinian Authority terrorists filmed themselves bragging about participating in the massacre of Jews, including killing Jews and stepping on their heads. 85% of Palestinians support Hamas’ atrocities on October 7th. The Israeli people and Israeli leadership thus oppose a Palestinian state, across the board.
Moreover, the Palestinian leadership firmly maintains that Hamas would be part of a Palestinian state. Biden’s demand for such a terror state thus contradicts his brief lip service that Israel has the right to go after Hamas. (See also “ZOA Strongly Opposes Dangerous Biden Plan for Palestinian Authority (Pay-to-Slay) Terror Regime to Rule Gaza & Create a State,” Jan. 10, 2024, for more details as to why a Palestinian state is untenable.)
(2) Biden overstated number of Gazans displaced and “under bombardment,” and never mentioned that 200,000 Israelis are still displaced, living in hotels and people’s homes and tents due to Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies’ destruction of their homes and communities and continuing bombardment; or that all of Israel is under the threat of rocket and other attacks. And that southern and northern Israel is now uninhabitable. Tiny Israel is now even tinier.
Biden also decried “Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin” in Gaza. But Biden said nothing about the numerous “Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin” throughout northern and southern Israel. Moreover, the Israeli homes burnt and destroyed were the homes of innocent Israelis sleeping in their beds. The homes destroyed in Gaza were homes that harbored Hamas rocket launchers, terror tunnel entrances and terrorists shooting at Israelis. Israel is not carpet-bombing Gaza. Shame on Biden for attempting to give such a false impression.
(3) Biden wrongly demanded that Israel must make assisting and protecting Gazans Israel’s first priority. In other words, according to Biden, Israel’s objectives of rescuing the hostages, preventing attacks on Israeli civilians, and eliminating Hamas’ terror army must take a back seat to assisting Gazans who overwhelmingly support Hamas massacring Jews who danced in the streets, rejoicing the murders, rapes and torturing of Jews.
Biden’s demand to prioritize Gazan civilians above all else ignores and violates international law. In fact, under international law, the anticipated military advantage of an operation (e.g., to eliminate Hamas’ terror army, prevent attacks against Israeli civilians and rescue the hostages) is weighed against the prospective harm to civilians. A military operation can go forward if the harm to civilians is not excessively out of proportion to the operation’s prospective military advantage. Israel carefully weighs every military operation under international law standards, and often calls off operations when civilians may be hurt. Israel is in fact the most moral army in the world. A far lower proportion of Gazan civilians have been harmed than in virtually any other war around the world, including wars prosecuted by the U.S.
Further, under international law, there is no obligation to supply aid to an enemy population. Israel is also not required to allow others to supply aid to the civilian population if – as is the case here – there is a reasonable concern that the aid will be diverted to military use. Hamas seizes the aid and uses it for its war effort.
(4) Biden parroted Hamas’ unverified casualty numbers as fact.
Biden parroted unverified Hamas and Hamas-controlled numbers when Biden stated: “More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. Most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned.”
According to the IDF – which is reliable – at least 12,000 casualties are Hamas terrorists. Moreover, a recent article by AEI Distinguished Fellow Danielle Pletka details huge discrepancies in Hamas’ numbers; Hamas math simply does not add up. Further, Hamas is responsible for all civilian deaths, as it embeds itself among civilians and caused this war.
Interestingly, Biden previously acknowledged that Hamas’ figures are utterly unreliable.
Back on October 25, 2023, Biden stated at a press conference that he had “no confidence in the [casualty] number that the Palestinians are using.” And on October 26, 2023, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby similarly stated, regarding Palestinian casualty numbers: “We all know that the Gazan Ministry of Health is just a front for Hamas. It’s a — it’s run by Hamas, a terrorist organization. I’ve said it myself up here: We can’t take anything coming out of Hamas, including the so-called Ministry of Health, at face value.” Why has Biden forgotten and ignored this?
And has Biden also forgotten Hamas’ false claim that Israel bombed Al-Ahli Hospital and killed almost 500 civilians there – when in fact a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket hit the hospital parking lot and caused minimal casualties?
(5) Biden completely ignored that Hamas steals the humanitarian aid; ignored the massive aid Israel has allowed into Gaza; and instead falsely intimated that Israel is using aid as a “bargaining chip” and isn’t “doing its part.”
After describing a temporary pier that Biden ordered the U.S. military to construct to bring more humanitarian aid into Gaza, Biden demanded that “Israel must also do its part. Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the cross fire.” This ignores the tremendous amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza; Israel’s continuing efforts to avoid civilian casualties; and that the real problem is that Hamas steals the aid. A U.S.-built pier to bring in more aid will not resolve the basic problem that Hamas steals the aid and controls its distribution in order to benefit Hamas’ continuing terror objectives. This port could also be used to bring more Iranian weapons in for Hamas to use against Israel. The U.S. should be pressuring Egypt to accept those Arabs who want to leave.
Biden also absurdly demanded that Israel must not use aid as a “bargaining chip.” Hamas is the party that is using humanitarian aid, both to control Gaza and to bargain its way out of being defeated.
(6) Biden promoted an “immediate ceasefire” that enables Hamas to continue to terrorize Israel.
Biden stated: “We’ve been working non-stop to establish an immediate ceasefire that would last for at least six weeks. It would get the hostages home, ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis, and build toward something more enduring.” There is no ceasefire in war. You fight until the enemy is destroyed!
Biden’s stated ceasefire plan does not dismantle Hamas. Rather, it enables Hamas’ terror army to continue to exist, regroup and attack Israel at a time of Hamas’ choosing.
Biden’s statement also differs from the “deal” reportedly recently discussed. Rather than releasing all the hostages, only 40 hostages would be gradually released over six weeks, and hundreds of convicted Palestinian terrorists would be released from Israeli prisons. Biden also failed to mention Hamas’ ridiculous insistence for a permanent ceasefire (until Hamas again breaks it), Israel’s guaranteed evacuation from Gaza, and the release of ten (or many more) Palestinian murderers/terrorists for each innocent Jewish hostage. Israel obviously opposes these ludicrous terms.
(7) Biden barely mentioned Iran, and omitted Iran’s role in Gaza, Lebanon, and the October 7th massacre.
The only threat posed by Iran that Biden briefly mentioned was the Houthi’s threat to international shipping. Biden omitted Iran’s role in the Hamas, PIJ and Hezbollah attacks on Israel, and in Iranian-backed militia attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East. It’s extremely difficult to combat violence in the Middle East when the U.S. president continually fails to acknowledge Iran’s leading role in all the violence.
Why is Biden ignoring Iran’s role, in light of the following?:
- The Wall Street Journal reported on October 8, 2023 that Iran helped plot the October 7th attack on Israel; gave the final go-ahead for the brutal October 7th attack during an October 2nd meeting in Beirut; and refined details of the October 7th attack in a series of meetings among Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the IRGC), Hamas and Hezbollah in Beirut. A Syrian government adviser and European official gave the same account of Iran’s involvement.
- The Wall Street Journal also reported on October 25, 2023 that approximately 500 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists received specialized combat training in Iran led by Iran’s IRGC Quds Force and its commander, Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani.
- On October 10, 2023, Kayhan International, an Iranian regime mouthpiece, attributed the October 7th attack to former IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani’s planning before Soleimani was killed by a U.S. strike on January 3, 2020. Kayhan also acknowledged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s involvement.
- At a press briefing on October 23, 2023, U.S. National Security spokesperson John Kirby admitted that “Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah,” to facilitate their attacks, and provide funding, resourcing, rockets, munitions and training for these Iran-backed proxies.
- On October 26, 2023, a hearing held by the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Chairman Bill Huizenga) revealed that “Hamas receives approximately $350 million dollars per year in support from Iran or roughly 93% of their [Hamas’] total funding.”
- On January 3, 2024, Fars News reported that IRGC spokesman Ramazan Sharif said that the massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023 was “one of the resistance axis’s acts of vengeance against the Zionists for the killing of Soleimani,” a further indication of Iranian involvement in planning and assisting with the October 7th massacre.
- Iran continues to incite against Israel and the U.S.: For instance, after ISIS acknowledged that it bombed the January 3, 2024 gathering in Kerman, Iran marking the anniversary of IRGC Chief Qassem Soleimani’s death, Iran blamed Israel and the U.S., claiming that “Daesh [ISIS] terrorists can only act as agents and mercenaries of America and Zionism.”