President Biden wraps up his visit to wartime Israel with a warning against being ‘consumed’ by rage
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden swept into wartime Israel for an 7 1/2--hour visit Wednesday that produced a heaping dose of support for the Israeli people, a deal to get limited humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt and a warning not to allow rage over the deadly Hamas attack to consume them.
“I understand. Many Americans understand,” Biden said as he wrapped up his stay in Tel Aviv, likening the Oct. 7 Hamas attack to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes in the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people. “You can’t look at what has happened here ... and not scream out for justice,” he said.
“But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it.”
Biden urged Israel to step back from the brink, not just to ease growing tensions in the Mideast that threaten to spiral into a broader regional conflict, but also to reassure a world rattled by images of carnage and suffering, in Israel and Gaza alike. One million people have been displaced in roughly 10 days, according to the United Nations.
Biden’s mission was to display resolve for Israel and to diminish the likelihood of a wider war, while providing assurances that he was not overlooking the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. But it was not clear how far the trip would take Biden in trying to tamp down volatile Mideast divisions, particularly after his plan collapsed to follow the Israel stop with an Arab
leaders summit in Jordan.
The day was full of signature Biden moments as he walked a careful diplomatic line. He doled out embraces to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to first-responders, doctors and victims who witnessed nightmare moments. He spoke quietly of his own history with grief. He told the familiar anecdote about
meeting every Israeli prime minister over more than five decades in elected office, starting with Golda Meir in 1973. He quoted an Irish poet.
“I come to Israel with a message: You’re not alone,” Biden said. “As long as the United States stands and we will stand forever
we will not let you ever be alone.”