Biden and potential successors mark Oct. 7 as US election nears, Mideast war rages
US president lights candle at White House, VP plants pomegranate tree at residence; Sullivan: Israel needs strategy to ensure battlefield wins endure; Trump visits Chabad rebbe’s grave
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Joe Biden and his potential successors participated in a series of ceremonies marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught against Israel, in the final weeks before the November 5 election and as conflict widened in the Middle East.
Biden lit a yahrzeit memorial candle for the roughly 1,200 people killed during the October 7 attack in the Blue Room of the White House, where he was joined by First Lady Jill Biden and a local Washington rabbi who is a family friend of slain American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Earlier in the day, the US president issued a statement pledging to continue working to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages still in the Gaza Strip.
Biden also spoke on the phone with President Isaac Herzog on Monday, expressing his condolences to the Israeli people on the anniversary of the Hamas attack.
While the call appeared more symbolic than substantive, making the president a suitable recipient, it was notable that Biden did not decide to speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The two leaders have not spoken in nearly 50 days, amid simmering frustration in the US administration with Netanyahu, primarily over his handling of the war with Hamas in Gaza.
Remembering the victims of October 7th. pic.twitter.com/o8bnKBJyBh
— Herbie Ziskend Archived (@HerbieZiskend46) October 7, 2024
The two presidents “reaffirmed their commitment to achieving a deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, secures Israel, alleviates the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and paves the way for a lasting peace with Hamas never again able to control Gaza or reconstitute its military capabilities,” according to a White House readout.
The Israeli readout added that “Biden noted that the atrocities committed by Hamas served as a reminder of the significant threat posed by Iran and its proxies in the region. He emphasized his deep love for Israel and his own support for Zionism.”
“Herzog thanked President Biden for his call and for his steadfast support of Israel from the outbreak of the war, and stressed that this would never be forgotten,” the statement said.
Elsewhere in Washington, Israel’s embassy hosted a memorial event at which US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke.
“The miles between Washington and Jerusalem do not feel so distant today,” said an emotional Sullivan.
He surmised that Monday was the first day that the El Maleh Rahamim prayer had been recited in the White House, during the private ceremony in which Biden participated.
He nodded to the “remarkable capacity” Israel demonstrated in recent operations that have killed terror leaders across the region, but said they won’t be enough on their own to provide Israel with true security.
“The challenge going forward is to turn tactical wins in battle into a strategy that secures Israel’s people and its future,” Sullivan said.
“That takes real discipline, it takes courage, it takes foresight to match the conduct of war to a clear and sustainable set of objectives and to turn tactical advantages into enduring strategic gains. That is never easy, but it’s imperative, and we are here to work with you on that,” he added.
The US administration has continued to provide Israel with significant military and diplomatic backing over the past year of fighting, but has grown frustrated with what it has long felt has been Netanyahu’s refusal to plan for the postwar management of Gaza. Biden officials fear his failure to do so is laying the groundwork for an indefinite Israeli occupation of the Strip.
The US has pushed for Israel to allow Hamas’s more moderate rival, the Palestinian Authority, to gradually take over the management of Gaza once it has undergone comprehensive reform. Netanyahu has rejected the idea, oftentimes likening PA leader Mahmoud Abbas to Hamas.
The premier has spoken of friendly Arab nations assisting in helping administer civilian affairs in Gaza after the war, but those countries have drastically chilled their ties with Israel as the fighting has dragged on and repeatedly asserted that their involvement in the postwar reconstruction of the Strip is conditioned on Israel agreeing to an eventual two-state solution — a framework Netanyahu rejects.
Also addressing the embassy memorial event was Israel’s Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog, who thanked the Biden administration for its support throughout the war.
“We would not be where we are today without the support of the US. We owe deep gratitude to the Biden administration. We received significant political and material support,” said Herzog, the brother of Israel’s president. “The US stood with us against Iranian aggression and against anti-Israel blood libels at the UN. We must never take the alliance between Israel and the US for granted.”
Later Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff planted a pomegranate tree at their official residence in memory of the victims of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
In remarks before the tree-planting, the Democratic presidential nominee noted the 46 American victims of the attack, including a singer from Missouri who died shielding her son from bullets; an academic and peace activist who studied in Seattle and was the grandson of Holocaust survivors; and a dancer from California who was killed at the Nova music festival alongside her fiancee.
“Today I know many Jews will be reciting and reflecting on the Jewish prayer for mourning, the Kaddish. The words of the prayer are not about death. It is a prayer about our enduring belief in God, even in our darkest moments. So as we reflect on the horrors of October 7, let us please be reminded that we cannot lose faith,” she said.
Harris pledged never to forget October 7, to work to ensure that such an attack can never be repeated, and to ensure that Israel and Jewish people globally are secure.
She reiterated her commitment to releasing the hostages through a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and to relieve the “immense suffering” of Palestinians living there.
The vice president said a pomegranate tree was chosen because it symbolizes hope and righteousness in Judaism. The tree will be a reminder to her successors of the strength and endurance of the Jewish people, she added.
Speaking briefly after Harris, Emhoff said he is still “filled with pain and despair” over what unfolded one year ago. “October 7 hit us hard as a community, and it still does.”
He added that he constantly thinks about the hostages and is praying for their return and for the war to end.
Harris’s running mate Tim Walz visited an exhibit in Los Angeles memorializing the victims of the Nova music festival massacre.
.@Tim_Walz tours the Nova Exhibition this morning in LA to mark one year of the Oct. 7 attacks
Walz said in a statement “it’s time for a hostage deal and ceasefire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends…” pic.twitter.com/97FtMLFtw9
— Katherine Koretski (@kekoretski) October 7, 2024
“I join Vice President Harris, President Biden, and all Americans to again condemn Hamas’s brutality and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and to the safety and security of the American Jewish community,” Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said in a statement.
“It’s time for a hostage deal and ceasefire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, [and] the suffering in Gaza ends,” he added.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance headlined a memorial at the National Mall in Washington organized by the Philos Project.
“I know that there are many, many people who want the war to end. I am certainly one of those who wants the war to end and wants peace to return to Israel and to the territories that are currently completely destroyed by war,” Vance said in his remarks at the memorial.
“But the truth is that the best way to end the war — and I believe the only way to end the war — is if Hamas would let the hostages go,” the GOP senator from Ohio argued, notably echoing the stance of the Biden administration.
“October 7th was not just an attack on Israel, and not just an attack on Jews. It was an attack on Americans and every single American of common sense and principle must reject it,” he added.
.@Tim_Walz tours the Nova Exhibition this morning in LA to mark one year of the Oct. 7 attacks
Walz said in a statement “it’s time for a hostage deal and ceasefire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends…” pic.twitter.com/97FtMLFtw9
— Katherine Koretski (@kekoretski) October 7, 2024
Former US president Donald Trump, meanwhile, visited the New York City gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who led the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Orthodox Judaism from 1951 until his death in 1994.
Wearing a black kippah, or skullcap, Trump left a stone atop the headstone of Schneerson’s grave in a traditional Jewish custom. He left a note praying for the release of the hostages in Gaza and read from the Jewish book of Psalms. He was accompanied at the site by the parents of American-Israeli hostage Idan Alexander.
Trump was planning later Monday to speak before Jewish community leaders at one of his Florida resorts in the Miami suburb of Doral.
Earlier in the day, Trump conducted an interview with conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt, which focused heavily on Israel.
Trump indicated that he’d back Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites in retaliation for Tehran firing over 200 ballistic missiles at Israel last week. Biden has come out against the idea, also urging Israel not to target Iran’s oil fields and to respond “proportionally.”
Asked whether he’d applaud if Israel hits Iran’s nuclear sites, Trump responded, “Yeah. I dealt with Kim Jong Un. And he has nuclear weapons. And you tend to speak a little bit differently when they have nuclear weapons.”
Pressed again, Trump didn’t directly answer the question. “Well, you want to do what they want to do.”
“The nice thing is they’re entitled to an attack, and nobody will be upset if they attack, because they’re entitled,” he added.
The Republican presidential nominee then told Hewitt, “Israel has to do one thing. They have to get smart about Trump. Because they don’t back me. I did more for Israel than anybody, I did more for the Jewish people than anybody. And it’s not a reciprocal, as they say.”
Trump: "Israel has to do one thing. They have to get smart about Trump. Because they don't back me. I did more for Israel than anybody, I did more for the Jewish people than anybody. And it's not a reciprocal, as they say." pic.twitter.com/cbYO2hPKgi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 7, 2024
It is unclear whether the Republican presidential nominee meant to say “American Jews” instead of “Israel” in the first sentence, having often conflated the two, leading to accusations that he employs antisemitic dual loyalty tropes.
Trump has repeatedly rapped American Jews for not supporting him in higher numbers and said last month that Jews would deserve a lot of blame if he loses in November. But he does not typically claim that Israel does not support him, and in fact sometimes has cited polling that shows Israelis back him in very high numbers, though he did accuse Netanyahu of disloyalty during a 2021 interview.
He also told Hewitt that developers could make Gaza “better than Monaco” because it has “the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything.”
