President Joe Biden gave a speech in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel that had veteran New York Times foreign affairs columnist (and 3x Pulitzer Prize winner) Tom Friedman shaking his head in admiration.
“How about Joe Biden?” Friedman waxes, “These knuckleheads on Fox every day say this 80-year-old guy can’t put two sentences together? He put the Western Alliance together around Ukraine. He’s putting an alliance together now on Israel. One thing about Joe Biden you can tell…no one had to write that speech for him. I can’t think of a single Democrat let alone a Republican who would give that speech, that way, at this time.”
.@tomfriedman: @POTUS "put the western alliance together around Ukraine. He's putting an alliance together now on Israel… No one had to write that speech for him. I can't think of a single Democrat let alone a Republican who could give that speech, that way, at this time." pic.twitter.com/uiUIEEfNVp
— Olivia Dalton (@ODalton46) October 11, 2023
Another comment on Friedman’s take concurred, saying: “We have been critical in the past and will continue to be so; but can find no fault whatsoever in this speech, Mr. President – one of the finest ever delivered from the White House.”
We have been critical in the past and will continue to be so; but can find no fault whatsoever in this speech, Mr President – one of the finest ever delivered from the White House.
— Danner Foundation (@DannerFoundati1) October 10, 2023
We know there are speech writers, but also are aware that the final editing is yours and this was…
But even before he gave the public speech that drew such broad praise recognizing the “sheer evil” of the attacks, Biden spoke privately with numerous world leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in his own remarks addressing the terror thanked Biden “for his unequivocal support.”
“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,” Biden said.
“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 and the murder of Jewish people,” Biden said in an unambiguous declaration that Israeli voices praised.
“Israelis watched the speech and cried,” the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting one woman saying it “was the first time I heard a leader speak” since the attacks, while lamenting of Israel and Netanyahu, “we don’t have a leader here.”
Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren tweeted: “President Biden’s speech was the most passionately pro-Israel in history…Our people will always remember and cherish this speech and the man who delivered it.”
