Biden: Israel must eliminate Hamas, but path to Palestinian statehood also needed
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Joe Biden says Hamas must be destroyed but that there also must be a “path to a Palestinian state.”
Biden says during an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes that Hamas “engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust.”
Asked if he thinks there should be a ceasefire, he answers that “Israel has to respond,” hinting that Jerusalem has US backing to forcefully attack the terror group.
“They have to go after Hamas,” he says. “Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They’re hiding behind the civilians.”
"Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust… Israel has to respond," says Mr. Biden.
More than 2,000 have been killed, by Gaza’s count, in Israel's largest bombardment of Gaza ever. https://t.co/9VX3lMi847 pic.twitter.com/wXcfS9ev9P
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 15, 2023
He says an Israeli re-occupation of Gaza would be a “big mistake.”
“There needs to be a Palestinian authority, there needs to be a Palestinian state,” he says.
Biden acknowledges that Israel won’t be expected to immediately pursue a two-state solution after the October 7 Hamas onslaught but argues that Jerusalem “understands that significant portions of the Palestinian people do not share the views of Hamas and Hezbollah.”
