The sacred month is a time for reflection and renewal. This year, it comes at a moment of immense pain. The war in Gaza has inflicted terrible suffering on the Palestinian people. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including thousands of children. Some are family members of American Muslims, who are deeply grieving their lost loved ones today. Nearly two million Palestinians have been displaced by the war; many are in urgent need of food, water, medicine, and shelter. As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind for me.
The 30,000 number is only from Hamas. Biden's acceptance of it without any reservation is shameful.
The United States will continue to lead international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza by land, air, and sea. Earlier this week, I directed our military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments of aid. We are carrying out airdrops of aid, in coordination with our international partners, including Jordan. And we’ll continue to work with Israel to expand deliveries by land, insisting that it facilitate more routes and open more crossings to get more aid to more people.
Open more crossings? Kerem Shalom was enough to supply Gaza for many years. This is a Palestinian demand in order to facilitate terror attacks, not a necessity for aid delivery, which is a logistics problem and not a border problem. Biden is clueless - but again, parroting Hamas talking points.
While we get more life-saving aid to Gaza, the United States will continue working non-stop to establish an immediate and sustained ceasefire for at least six weeks as part of a deal that releases hostages.
The US didn't use the word "ceasefire" for most of the war, instead saying it supports a truce or a pause. "Ceasefire" is the word that anti-Israel protester use, and now Biden has adopted it, quite deliberately, because their threats and bullying is working.
And we will continue building toward a long-term future of stability, security, and peace. That includes a two-state solution to ensure Palestinians and Israelis share equal measures of freedom, dignity, security, and prosperity. That is the only path toward an enduring peace.
This is rewarding Hamas terror. And it is stupid.
Does any sane person really think that if there were a Palestinian state, even in every inch of the territories and Jerusalem, Hamas wouldn't be mounting terror attacks in Israel?
Look at Hezbollah. Israel withdrew from every inch of southern Lebanon - certified by the UN - but it kept the issue alive claiming there were a few square meters that belonged to them. They used that excuse to build a militia more powerful than the Lebanese army.
Hate for Israel is not based on claims of land, or "return," or "settlements," or "occupation" or "justice." It is based on pure Jew hatred and the idea that Jews having any land in the region is an affront to the honor of Arabs and Muslims worldwide.
The root cause of the conflict is, and always has been, antisemitism. And everyone knows this, because the Arabs were attacking Jand murdering Jews before "occupation" and before 1948.
Anyone who thinks that two states would bring peace, whether they are CodePink or Joe Biden, is a complete fool.
But we are not allowed to talk about Muslim antisemitism. Instead, Biden talks about...Islamophobia.
Here at home, we have seen an appalling resurgence of hate and violence toward Muslim Americans. Islamophobia has absolutely no place in the United States, a country founded on freedom of worship and built on the contributions of immigrants, including Muslim immigrants. My Administration is developing the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Related Forms of Bias and Discrimination, to take on hate against Muslim, Sikh, South Asian, and Arab American communities, wherever it occurs. No one should ever fear being targeted at school, at work, on the street, or in their community because of their background or beliefs.
