President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday of graphic images he has viewed of atrocities committed by Hamas militants in Israel, saying he had seen and confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.
He made the comment at a White House event with Jewish leaders, where he once again used emotional language to describe the attack, on a day the U.S. death toll in the massacre grew to 22.
‘I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children. I never thought I’d ever – anyway,’ Biden said. ‘But there are countries in the region are trying to be of some help, including Arab nations trying to get some help,’ he said.
That came after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted out a bloody image of a child-sized bed, following reports of a Hamas rampages of Israeli Kibbutzim. It was located in a blood-spattered room that also had children’s toys.
‘Hamas is worse than ISIS,’ Netanyahu wrote.
ISIS produced horrific hostage videos when it seized territory in Iraq and Syria in 2015 and 2016.
President Biden said he saw and had confirmed ‘confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children’ during the gruesome Hamas attack in Israel
Biden also referenced ISIS in his comments, after quoting the Torah, the Hebrew bible.
‘You know, it’s been hard to find that light during the darkness of these past few days,’ Biden said.With terrorist groups like Hamas have brought not only terror but sheer evil, sheer evil to the world. Evil that echoes the worst and matches, in some cases exceeds, the worst atrocities of ISIS. More than 1000 civilians slaughter in Israel,’ he said.
An Israeli reporter for iTV said she saw decapitated infants ‘with my own eyes’ at a the Kfar Aza Kibbutz near the Gaza border. ‘I witnessed some of those scenes with my own eyes as we were walking through this community that may be a quarter of a mile from the Gaza border, the atrocities that were still left behind, children, cribs, baby cribs overturned on their side, splattered with blood. Horrible, horrible images,’ she said.
A Netanyahu spokesman confirmed the gruesome detail to CNN Wednesday.
American Jewish Committee Managing Director for Policy and Political Affairs Julie Rayman listens as U.S. President Joe Biden addresses a roundtable with Jewish community leaders. Biden compared the savagery of the attack to ISIS
The comments came in a speech where Biden issued his first public warning to Iran since the Hamas attack on Israel as he faced growing pressure to freeze $6 billion of Tehran’s assets.
‘We’ve ‘made it clear to the Iranians: Be careful,’ Biden said at a meeting with Jewish leaders at the White House Wednesday.
He said the U.S. would back Israel, detailing elements of a new arms shipment that includes interceptors for its Iron Dome defense as well as ammunition for the Israel Defense Force.
Following the horrific Hamas attack on Saturday Biden made a brief statement lasting three minutes, before remaining publicly silent for three days.
In an emotional speech on Tuesday he did not specifically mention Iran, but instead issued a generalized warning that no country or group should try to exploit the situation.
President Joe Biden issued a stark warning to Iran – his first since the Hamas attack on Israel – to ‘be careful’
His remarks on Wednesday were the first time he had confronted Iran, which has long supported Hamas militarily and politically, but has denied advance knowledge of its attack on Israel.
Earlier this year Biden unfroze $6 billion of Iranian funds in exchange for the release of a group of American hostages.
The money has yet to be accessed by Iran and Biden is facing calls from Republicans and Democrats to refreeze it.
He did not specify in his comments what he would do if Iran took any action to support Hamas in the coming days and weeks.
Meanwhile, Israel has been bombing Gaza following the horrific attack by Hamas, with troops gathering on the border with Gaza for what could be a ground invasion.
Biden told Jewish leaders it would be ‘bizarre’ for him to detail what the U.S. was doing to free hostages in Gaza, but assured them his team was working on it around the clock. He appeared alongside second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who pounded a lectern as he spoke about the tragedy.
US President Joe Biden listens to Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff speak at a roundtable with Jewish community leaders in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House on October 11, 2023
A house is completely destroyed after being burned by Hamas militants during the attack at Kibbutz Be’eri, near the border with Gaza on October 11, 2023 in Be’eri, Israel. Biden has warned Iran and unnamed groups to avoid exploiting the aftermath
‘We are outraged. And with our broken hearts, we are sending our love, our strength, and our unwavering support to the people of Israel,’ said Emhoff.
‘I am honored to be with you all today— as an American, as a patriot who loves his country, and as a Jew. Like all Jews, I feel a deep, visceral connection to Israel and its people.
‘We witnessed a mass murder of innocent civilians. It was a terrorist assault. And there is never any justification for terrorism. There are no two sides to this issue. The images that we saw will be seared in our brains forever,’ he said.
Biden also expressed hope that whatever might be planned could be fruitful, despite years of escalating violence. ‘I think there is a chance to end this in a way that makes it very difficult to be repeated,’ he said.
‘I know we can overcome this,’ Biden said, before voicing optimism about a region that has bedeviled many of his predecessors.
‘I think we can change the Middle East,’ he said.
The administration has struggled to balance its approach to Iran since the October 7 attack, which included brutal murders of Israeli residents and civilians.
Top officials have cited Iran’s longstanding support for Hamas, even intelligence has not established ‘direct evidence’ linking Iran to Saturday’s attack, as White House national security spokesman John Kirby put it Wednesday.
He bristled at a question he said ‘implies that we’re just not waking up to the fact that they’ve been supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist networks.’
He said the administration had sanctioned 400-plus entities in the country.
‘Nobody has turned a blind eye to Iranian destabilizing behavior,’ said Kirby.
He said Hamas wouldn’t haver ‘been able to function at all had it not been for propping up by the Iranian regime, but we haven’t seen any specific evidence that tells us they were witting, involved in the planning, or involved in the resourcing and the training that went into this very complex’ attack.
The administration has been facing new pressure from Democratic senators to freeze $6 billion in Iranian assets that were unlocked as part of a deal to free five Americans held captive there last month.
Officials have said no money has yet gone out of the accounts, which are restricted for ‘humanitarian’ purposes.
Biden also defended the virtual blackout on his administration’s efforts to free American hostages, after Kirby confirmed that less than a handful were among the 17 Americans believed missing.
‘The press is going to shout to me and many of you are, “What are you doing to get these folks home?” If I told you I wouldn’t be able to get them home. Folks there’s a lot we’re doing – a lot we’re doing. I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home. But the idea that I’m going to stand here before you and tell you what I’m doing is bizarre. So I hope you understand how bizarre I think it would be to try to answer that question.
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