Speaking at a gala dinner for the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, US President Joe Biden accuses the Hamas terror group of using Palestinian civilians to shield themselves from Israeli retaliation.
“The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, innocent Palestinian families, and the vast majority have nothing to do with Hamas,” he says. “They’re being used as human shields.”
Biden notes that Saturday’s massacre was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
The president says he spoke for an hour the day before with family members of unaccounted-for Americans on Zoom and connects it to his own experiences of losing his first wife and daughter in a car crash in 1972.
“They’ve endured an agony not knowing what’s happening. It’s not the same thing, but I can tell you what it’s like. It’s one thing to lose somebody you know you’re going to lose … like I was able to do with my son,” he says. It’s a very other thing to get a phone call, like I got years ago, saying ‘there’s been an accident, your wife and daughter are dead, I’m not sure your boys are gonna make it.’ The uncertainty of those two or three hours, trying to get back to find out, it’s the worst feeling in the world, it’s gut-wrenching.”
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
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From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 14, 2023
