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President Joe Biden addressed a roundtable of Jewish community leaders at the White House on Wednesday, calling the Hamas attack “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust” and reporting photos of “terrorists beheading children.”
The president called the attack an act of “sheer evil,” and emphasized his administration’s support forIsrael amid its war with Hamas.
“It is important for Americans to see what is happening. I have been doing this for a long time. I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed, pictures of terrorists beheading children,” Biden said. “Downplaying Hamas’s atrocities and blaming the Jewish people is unthinkable,” he added.
Following the roundtable, a spokesperson for the White House told the Washington Post that the president based his comments on claims from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman and media reports from Israel, and that Biden and U.S. officials had not viewed photos or confirmed the reports independently.
The Israel Defense Forces have yet to confirm the claim that Hamas beheaded babies during the attack over the weekend. A spokesperson for the military told The Intercept on Tuesday that they could not confirm the horrific claim.
“Women, children, toddlers, and elderly were brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action and we are we are [sic] aware of the heinous acts Hamas is capable of,” the spokesperson wrote in response to questions from the outlet. In the follow-up call, she reiterated: “We cannot confirm it officially, but you can assume it happened and believe the report.”
The AssociatedPress reported that the Israeli military said more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israel; in Gaza, 900 Palestinians have been killed, including 260 children, according to authorities there. Thousands of others have been wounded.
Bidenhas confirmed that Americans are among the hostages held by Hamas. During a press briefing before the roundtable, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed the U.S. death toll in the war rose to 22, and added that 17 Americans remained unaccounted for.
On Wednesday, Biden said that the U.S. was sending experts to “advise and assist with recovery efforts,” but did not specify any strategies regarding the hostages. “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,” the president said.
Family members of U.S. citizens believed to be taken hostage duringHamas‘Israelincursion this past weekend have expressed frustration over the U.S. government’s recovery efforts. Relatives of missing persons with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship begged the Biden administration and Israeli government to do more to negotiate the releases of their loved ones.
“It’s a war, so we realize that there are a number of things that are important on a national level,” Jonathan Polin — whose 23-year-old son Hersh Goldberg-Polin disappeared after attending a music festival near Gaza that Hamas attacked — told theLos Angeles Times. “But this is the most important thing for us, so we need to do it.”
This story was updated 10/11/23 @ 8:43 p.m. ET with an update from a White House spokesperson.
