US President Joe Biden slammed massacres and atrocities perpetrated against Israeli men, women and children that began Saturday morning, on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, when more than 1,500 terrorists invaded from Gaza to attack Jewish communities along the southern border.
More than 1,000 Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists, the vast majority of them civilians and many of them women and children. More than 100 were kidnapped and taken across the border into Gaza, held captive by Hamas. Close to 3,000 more were wounded, shot, knifed, beheaded and burned in the attacks on the border villages, and in the more than 5,000 rocket attacks that have since followed.
Here’s the full text of the president’s address.
Good afternoon.
You know there are moments in this life and I mean this literally, when pure unadulterated evil is unleashed on
this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend in the bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas, a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews.
This was an act of sheer evil; more than 1,000 civilians slaughtered, not just killed, slaughtered in Israel, among them at least 14 American citizens killed.
Parents butchered, using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach-turning reports of babies being killed. Entire families slain. Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace — to celebrate peace! Women raped, assaulted, and paraded as trophies.
Families hid their fear for hours and hours, desperately trying to keep their children quiet to avoid drawing
attention, and thousands of wounded alive but carrying with them the bullet holes and the shrapnel, the wounds
and the memory of what they endured.
You all know these traumas never go away.
There’s still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones not knowing if they’re
alive or dead or hostages. Infants in their mother’s arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors abducted and held hostage, hostages whom Hamas has now threatened to execute in violation of every every code of human morality.
It’s abhorrent. The brutality of Hamas, this bloodthirstiness brings to mind the worst rampages of ISIS.
This is terrorism, but sadly for the Jewish people it’s not new.
This attack has brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by a millennia of anti-Semitism and
genocide of the Jewish people.
So in this moment we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel, and we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack.
There’s no justification for terrorism. There’s no excuse.
Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination. Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the State of Israel, the murder of Jewish people. They use Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Hamas offers nothing but terror and bloodshed with no regard to who pays the price.
The loss of innocent life is heartbreaking. Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond — indeed, has a duty to respond — to these vicious attacks.
I just got off the phone with a third call with Prime Minister Netanyahu and I told him if the United States experienced what Israel is experiencing, our response would be swift, decisive and overwhelming.
We also discussed how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we we act according to the rule of law. Terrorists purposely target civilians, kill them. We uphold the laws of war, the law of war. It matters. There’s a difference.
Today Americans across the country are praying for all those families that have been ripped apart. A lot of us know how that feels; it leaves a black hole in your chest when you lose family, a feeling like you’re being sucked in. The anger, the pain, the sense of hopelessness.
This is what they mean by human tragedy and atrocity on an appalling scale.
We’re going to continue to stand united supporting the people of Israel who are suffering unspeakable losses, and opposing the hatred and violence of terrorism.
My team has been in near constant communication with our Israeli partners and partners all across the region and the world from the moment this crisis began.
We’re surging additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome. We’re going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.
My Administration has consulted closely with Congress throughout this crisis. When Congress returns we’re going
to ask them to take urgent action to fund the National Security requirements of our critical partners. This is not about party or politics — this about the security of our world, the security of the United States of America.
We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas. I’ve directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise
Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts, because as president I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world.
The United States has also enhanced our military force posture in the region to strengthen our deterrence. The Department of Defense has moved the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group into the Eastern Mediterranean and
bolstered our fighter aircraft presence, and we stand ready to move in additional assets as needed.
Let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation. I have one word: don’t. Don’t. Don’t.
Our hearts may be broken but our resolve is clear.
Yesterday I also spoke with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and UK to discuss the latest developments with our European allies and coordinate our united response. This comes on top of days of steady engagement with partners across the region.
We’re also taking steps at home. In cities across the United States of America police departments have stepped up security around centers of Jewish life. The Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation are working closely with state and local law enforcement and Jewish community partners to identify and disrupt any domestic threat that could emerge in connection with these horrific attacks.
This is a moment for the United States to come together to grieve with those who are mourning.
Let people be real clear: there is no place for hate in America: not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against anybody. We reject … terrorism.
We condemn the indiscriminate evil just as we’ve always done. That’s what America stands for.
You know just over 50 years ago, I was thinking about it this morning, talking with the Secretary of State and the Vice President in my office, a little over 50 years ago as a young Senator I visited Israel for the first time as a newly elected Senator, and I had a long, long trip, a meeting with Golda Meir in her office just before the Yom Kippur War, and I guess she could see the consternation on my face as she described what was being faced, what they were facing.
We walked outside in that sort of hallway outside her office to have some photo; she looked at me all of a sudden and said would you like to have a photograph, and so I got up and followed her out. We’re standing there silent, looking at the press. She could tell I guess I was concerned. She leaned over and whispered to me, she said, ‘Don’t worry Senator Biden we have secret weapon here in Israel. My word,’ is what she said. ‘We have
no place else to go.’
‘We have no place else to go.’
For 75 years Israel stood as the only guarantor of security of Jewish people around the world so that the atrocities of the past could never happen again, and let there be no doubt the United States has Israel’s back.
We will make sure the Jewish and democratic State of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have. It’s as simple as that.
These atrocities have been sickening. We’re with Israel, let’s make no mistake.
Thank you.”
