White House walks back Biden’s claims over Hamas baby beheadings

Washington: The White House has been forced to clarify comments by Joe Biden after the US president incorrectly claimed to have seen photos of Hamas terrorists beheading children as he spoke on the atrocities in Israel.

As the Israeli-Hamas war entered its fifth day, Biden joined a round table of Jewish leaders at the White House, where he also pushed back against antisemitism in America, as tensions between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian supporters escalate on US universities, city streets and the halls of power in Washington.

A house is destroyed after being burnt by Hamas militants during the attack at Kibbutz Be’eri, near the border with Gaza.Credit: Getty Images

“We must all do our part and forcefully speak out against antisemitism and push back against any attempts to deny or distort the facts, to make clear there is no place for hate in America,” he said.

“Not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against anybody.”

The president’s comments came as the world has been transfixed by the horrors of the weekend, with some reports suggesting the Israeli military had discovered dozens of butchered bodies in one of the communities Hamas attacked on Saturday morning.

Biden said, “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I never really thought that I would see or have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”

US President Joe Biden speaks during a round table discussion with Jewish community leaders in WashingtonCredit: Sipa/Bloomberg

A White House spokesman later clarified that Biden had not seen the photos and had based his comments on Israeli media reports and comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman.

Gruesome reports that Hamas beheaded children in the Kfar Aza kibbutz circulated rapidly, however Hamas described the accusations as “fabricated and baseless”.

Nicole Zedek, a journalist with Israel’s i24 News, originally reported that up to 40 babies had been killed in the attack and some had been decapitated, according to Israeli soldiers with whom she had spoken.

Other journalists said they had been unable to verify the claim and the IDF has said that it had not been able to confirm the reports. Hamas branded the allegations “false”.

Supporters of Israel and Palestine gather at the Israeli consulate in New York on Monday.Credit: AP

At least 1200 people have died in Israel since Saturday’s brutal incursion and an estimated 150 are believed to be held hostage in Gaza, according to Israel, with time running out to find and extract them. Twenty-two Americans are among the dead so far and a further 17 are unaccounted for. Some are believed to be held hostage by Hamas.

But the conflict in the Middle East has also upended activity at colleges across the country, where pro-Palestinian rallies and rhetoric have fuelled long-standing tensions with Jews and pro-Israel groups.

At Harvard University, for example, 31 student organisations signed a letter holding “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”.

The groups noted that the attack “did not happen in a vacuum”, and that Palestinians had been forced to live in an “open-air prison for over two decades”.

In Dearborn, Michigan, a sea of flags and “We Love Gaza” signs filled the local community and arts centre on Tuesday night where more than 1200 people gathered to rally for an end to the Palestinian occupation.

And in Manhattan’s New York University, a letter from the student bar association president, which went viral, sparked a backlash after it declared: “This regime of state sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance. Instead, I condone the violence of apartheid.”

The issue has caused Democratic ructions in Washington, where Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has come under fire from colleagues for a statement addressing the losses on both sides and for keeping the Palestinian flag displayed outside her office on Capitol Hill.

Tlaib, a member of the so-called “Squad” of progressive Democrats, is the only Palestinian-American member of Congress and a frequent critic of Israel.

Rashida Tlaib said she grieved the loss of “Palestinian and Israeli lives”, while calling for “ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system”.Credit: AP

In her first statement on Sunday, she said she grieved the loss of “Palestinian and Israeli lives”, while calling for “ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system”.

On Wednesday, she hit back at her critics, saying that claims she supported the Hamas attacks were “rooted in bigoted assumptions about my faith and ethnicity”.

The tensions underscore what is likely to be an increasingly complex issue for the Biden administration both at home and abroad.

But as he addressed Jewish leaders on Wednesday afternoon (US time), the president once again reiterated that he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel and denounced those trying to downplay or justify the atrocities committed by Hamas.

He also described the group’s actions as “evil that matches, and in some cases exceeds, the worst atrocities of ISIS”.

“I would argue this was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” he said.

“Silence is complicity. I want you to know, I think you’ve already figured it out, I refuse to be silent.”

The Biden administration has deployed US government experts to help Israel extract hostages.

It has also sent Israel weapons, the first of which arrived on Wednesday (US time), and repositioned ships and aircraft closer to the country to deter other nations and terrorist agencies from widening the conflict.

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