The Deadliest Day for Jews since the Holocaust: President Biden meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Secretary Alexis Sanchez and Homeland Security Secretary Merrick Garland
President Biden met with leaders from prominent US Jewish groups at the White House on Wednesday to assure them that his administration is doing what it can to ensure the safe release of hostages.
Biden said the United States is sending experts to advise and assist with hostage recovery efforts. He also said he directed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland to work to boost security and address threats to the Jewish community in America.
“You worry about kids being targeted at school, going about their daily lives, hurt by the downplaying of Hamas’ atrocities, and blaming Israel. Biden said this is unconscionable.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said Wednesday that the White House is not tracking any specific targeted violence toward Jews in the United States since the attack in Israel by Hamas, a Palestinian military group, this past weekend.
The meeting included officials from more than 20 Jewish organizations ranging from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to J Street and included top Biden aides such as national security adviser Jake Sullivan. It was led by Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Harris. Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of any U.S. president or vice president.
Biden spoke about the need to speak out against the attack in his remarks. “I would argue it’s the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” Biden said.
He never thought he would see pictures of children being beheaded. It was not clear whether Biden had seen the pictures. A National Security Council official said Biden was referring to media reports from Israel. NPR has not independently verified the reports.
Emhoff told the group of Jewish leaders that he witnessed a mass murder of innocent civilians. “It was a terrorist assault. There is no justification for terrorism. There are no two sides to this issue. The images that we saw will haunt us for the rest of our lives.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration released its national strategy to counter antisemitism, which included plans to improve safety and security for Jewish communities and to increase awareness about antisemitism.
Blinken will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders. Netanyahu formed a unity government on Wednesday that included the opposition leader and former army commander.
The diplomatic push comes as Israel and Gaza experience the most dramatic escalations in violence in recent memory, with concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries across the Middle East.
The release of hostages from last weekend’s incursion into Israel will be a top priority for the deputy foreign minister. A group of people, including an unknown amount of Americans, are being held hostage by Hamas.
Militants overran a police station and military positions. They gunned down revelers at a dance music festival near Israel’s border with Gaza, killing more than 200 people. At least 100 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip by the Israelis after they killed families in gated communities.
The creation of a corridor to let Gaza civilians leave the Strip is expected to be one of the things that Blinken will push for. Live television footage on Thursday morning showed huge plumes of smoke rising from buildings in Gaza. More than 2 million Palestinians have lost electricity, as well as water, food and fuel supplies from outside of Gaza, after Israel put the territory under full siege.
Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Hamas militant group took control of the territory in 2007. Egypt was sending aid through the border but it has stopped doing so due to the Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Israelis held funerals for those killed in Saturday’s attack, when militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel, attacking communities along the country’s southern border.
Almost Everytime Israeli air strikes strike a civilian hostage: Hamas vs. Ezzedin al-Qassam
Hamas is planning to use hostages as bargaining chips to free some of the jailed Palestinians, but it insists it will not negotiate while the Gaza strip is under attack.
Hamas’ military wing, Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, threatened to execute a civilian hostage every time civilians in Gaza die in their homes from Israeli airstrikes that come without warning. No such publicly known execution has yet been carried out.