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Biden Really Just Said This About an American Held Hostage by Hamas

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  May 20, 2024 8:45 PM

On Monday, President Joe Biden gave remarks at an event celebrating Jewish American Heritage. While this president is prone to gaffes and mixups, there was something particularly mortifying about Monday, considering he slurred noticeably and even claimed that Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli citizen being held captive by Hamas, was present at the White House.

"My administration has been working around the clock to free the remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already. And here with us today is Hersh Goldberg-Polin," Biden said. Not only was he slurring his words in a particularly noticeable manner, he also looked confused as he read from the teleprompter. 

He then corrected himself in real time, noting "he is not here with us, but he's still being held by Hamas."

Former and potentially future President Donald Trump's campaign took note of the slip, even sending out an email alert on Monday night. 

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 of last year, they didn't merely kill 1,200 people, including men, women, and children, with not even babies or Holocaust survivors being spared. They also engaged in rape, torture, and kidnapping, taking approximately 240 people hostage. 

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Late last November, there was a temporary pause in fighting, with a select amount of hostages being released in rounds, mostly women, children, and the elderly. In return, Israel had to release convicted terrorists and murderers. Although the role of the Biden administration was mentioned and even celebrated by the president's allies at the time, American hostages were left behind and it took until the third round for an American hostage, 4-year-old Abigail Idan, to be released. Many of the hostages still remain in captivity. 

Late last month, a proof of life propaganda video was released of 23-year-old Goldberg-Polin, who lost his arm when hit my a grenade at the Nova music festival where Hamas terrorists also attacked.

More recently, when National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was pressed about the status of the American hostages during last Friday's White House press briefing, there was "sadly, no" new intelligence that Kirby had to share. "We don’t have any information that--that leads us to a conclusion that they’re--that they’re no longer alive. But we just don’t have any additional context whatsoever," he offered. 

Bringing up Goldberg-Polin in such a confused manner wasn't Biden's only problematic moment during Monday's remarks. 

He also referred to a "menorah" as a "medorah" and made odd and confusing remarks about Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) before simply trailing off.

"Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is responsible for this occurring having sponsored this early on," Biden said to a smattering of applause. While the crowd dutifully clapped, Biden took a moment to look around, confused. He then added "back when she was 12-years-old as a co," just trailing off. 

In covering the remarks for our sister site of RedState, Nick Arama offered that "I think he mostly stuck to the script because he was in truly bad shape, I think that's why he cut short some of his ad-libbing. He was slurring and even more incoherent than he normally is, and his left eye looked like it was almost closed half the time he was speaking."

This was a particularly bad moment, and on such a key issue when it comes to the Israeli-Hamas conflict. It's not merely about the importance of showing support for our ally in the Middle East, though that is important, and is something that the Biden administration is lacking. This is despite how we hear way too often from the administration and Biden himself that support for Israel is supposedly "ironclad." 

That claim about "ironclad" support is ringing more and more hollow, especially as the administration halts aid to Israel, Biden offers only measly three sentences in a statement on the International Criminal Court (ICC) coming up with an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. 

The United States, through US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood, also offered condolences on the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, known as the "butcher of Tehran." Iran is an enemy of the United States and Israel, having supported Hamas with the October 7 attack. 

These moments of slurring and confusion also send a message to our enemies, though, that Biden exudes weakness physically and mentally, as well as on the international stage. The Israeli-Hamas conflict is, of course, not the only foreign policy crisis to take place during the Biden administration.

The Biden-Trump debate next month scheduled for June 27 will certainly be a sight to see, if Biden even keeps to such a commitment. It's worth wondering if he'll once more have a pathetic display like he did on Monday, offering a weak salute while his hand shook as he then shuffled away.