Biden, an elderly man with poor memory
IF YOU want to criticize your daughter or son for an endeavor that you think is excessive or exaggerated, you lovingly and half-approvingly say, “Honey, this paper is not going to work” or “You have over-the-top attempts at humor,” or critique whatever he or she is attempting to do. In other instances, you hide your thoughts behind disapproving looks, like during an over-the-top birthday party your aunt throws for her kids, complete with ponies, clowns and a chocolate fountain.
For U.S. President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on Gaza could be really “over the top.” He made that impromptu remark to reporters at the White House last week in a session designed to prove to the press that the president was not “a forgetful elderly person who failed to properly protect highly sensitive classified information” but capable enough to take all the questions fielded by the media without any prior coaching.
Using this opportunity, the White House reporters shot multiple questions at him about Israel, Gaza and the possibility of a hostage deal. He said, “I am of the view that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top.”
Was Biden referring to the Israeli military operation or to Hamas’ response to the hostage deal proposal, which the president had also called “over the top” two days earlier? Later, a White House “official” (of course we don’t know who he is!) confirmed that the president was this time talking about the operations of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza.
IDF and the Israeli defense establishment to present him with plans to dislodge 2.3 million Palestinian civilians from Rafah so that they could raze the town to the ground in case any Hamas militants were hiding there.
Biden and his lawyers objected to the description of “an elderly man with poor memory.” I do not know about his memory, but his other mental capabilities like reasoning are iffy at best. Insinuating to Netanyahu that “I am more Zionist than you are!” then sending military aid that exceeded $3.8 billion (half a billion for Israel’s missile defense) and later responding with a rap on the knuckles saying “Tsk-tsk! You are over the top, man!” is definitely not sane behavior, especially when you are faced with a genocidal figure.