US National Security Council’s Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said that President Biden’s remarks were “misunderstood”.
File Photo of US President Joe Biden.
The White House has clarified US President Joe Biden’s remarks linking Hamas militants’ brutal October 7 attack on Israel to the mega India-Middle East-Europe that was announced during the last month’s G20 Summit in India.
Addressing a media briefing, US National Security Council’s Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said that President Biden was “misunderstood” and what he meant by the “regional integration for Israel” was the normalisation of bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Biden had earlier said, “I’m convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did… I have no proof… is because of progress towards regional integration for Israel.”
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Responding to a media query on why Biden said that, Kirby said that the what President Biden said was in context with the the normalisation and agreement the US was trying to reach between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“I think you misunderstood him. What he said was that he believed the normalisation process and agreement we were trying to reach (between Israel and Saudi Arabia)… an important step to a two-state solution… may have motivated Hamas to conduct those attacks. I think you misunderstood what he actually said,” he said.
Earlier this month, Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel after some 2,500 of its militants invaded the Jewish state and murdered more than 1,400 people, mostly non-combatant children, women and foreign nationals.
The attack prompted an even stronger response from Israel as the country declared a war against Hamas and launched massive air strikes in the Gaza Strip, from where the Palestinian militant group operates.
The Israel-Hamas war has deteriorated the security situation in entire Middle East as several other parties, including Iran-backed Hezbollah, provoking Israel towards a wider regional conflict.
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