US President Joe Biden tells an Israeli TV network that the Democratic Party will always remain a friend to Israel, despite a minority of dissenting voices in the party.
“There are a few of them, I think they’re wrong,” Biden tells Channel 12 news about the handful of Democratic members of Congress who oppose the level of US support for Israel. “I think they’re making a mistake, Israel is a democracy, Israel is our ally, Israel is our friend.”
Citing US funding for Israeli defense projects including the Iron Dome and the new laser-based Iron Beam, Biden says that “it’s overwhelmingly in our interest that Israel be stable.”
Asked if Israel should be concerned about the future of the Democratic party, Biden says an emphatic “no.”
“There’s no possibility of the Democratic Party, or even a significant portion of the Republican Party walking away from Israel,” Biden says.
Asked whether he is predicting a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, Biden says: “I’m not predicting. But I would not be disappointed.”
US President Donald Trump speaks during the first presidential debate against former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, on September 29, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Morry Gash-Pool/Getty Images/AFP)
He is asked: So you look forward to that? “No,” he replies. “Look, the one thing I know about politics, and American politics in particular, is that there is no way to predict what is going to happen. I’m not even halfway through my term yet, so there’s a lot of room to figure out what’s going to happen.”
Biden arrived in Israel Wednesday afternoon and immediately began a hectic agenda during which he will meet regional leaders for talks.
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
