President Joe Biden’s voice may be more of a whisper than a roar these days, but on Thursday night, he was as loud and strong as he’s ever been.
“The terrorist group Hamas unleashed pure unadulterated evil in the world,” Biden said. “But sadly, the Jewish people know, perhaps better than anyone, that there is no limit to the depravity of people when they want to inflict pain on others.”
Condemning the corrosive forces of antisemitism and Islamophobia, he said the United States would continue to support and arm Israel as it wages war against Hamas, and would also send millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Gaza to help ameliorate the effects of Israeli’s airstrikes and expanded blockade, which has cut off food, medicine, water and fuel to the area’s 2 million-plus impoverished inhabitants.
Israel has the absolute right to exist in peace and defend itself; Palestinians have the absolute right to self-determination and freedom. “We cannot give up on a two-state solution,” Biden said Thursday.
It is still difficult to contemplate the enormity of the gruesome Oct. 7 attacks on Israeli civilians, and the horrific price that so many Palestinian civilians are now being forced to pay. Both sides have suffered and will continue to suffer in unthinkable ways.