After spending the first several years of his presidency trashing Bibi Netanyahu, Joe Biden finally decided to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister on Wednesday, and it didn’t take long for things to get weird.
The two men sat down for a joint “presser” in which no questions were taken, though Biden did reportedly make time to trash the very media outlets who consistently shine his shoes.
“Surprised they haven’t asked me about the auto strike. They usually ask about things that have nothing to do with what we’re talking about,” Biden said to Netanyahu, according to a pool report. https://t.co/ygfJFHFD9P
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 20, 2023
During his prepared remarks, the U.S. president pledged to raise “hard issues” with Netanyahu, which is just code for fluffing Palestinian terrorism. Biden has also expressed opposition to Israel’s push for judicial reform, which has caused left-wing consternation inside the country.
To be clear, there is no comparison between the U.S. Supreme Court and the high court in Israel, the latter of which is undergirded by essentially nothing because the nation has no written constitution. In other words, judges in Israel can simply decree as they wish. Netanyahu has sought to change that so that basic principles can be protected and upheld. Naturally, Biden hates that idea.
Regardless, that wasn’t what was weird about the presser. That began at the very beginning when Biden performed the sign of the cross just as Netanyahu started to give his remarks.
BREAKING: Meeting on the sidelines of the @UN in New York, @POTUS — at the outset of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister @netanyahu as the two sat before the U.S. and Israeli flags — oddly performed the sign of the cross, a ritual Christian gesture. Mr. Biden read from notecards;… pic.twitter.com/KRkPq0GcdF
— James Rosen (@JamesRosenTV) September 20, 2023
What in the…?
There are multiple ways to look at this. The most obvious is the fact that Biden decided to give the sign of the cross while a Jewish prime minister was speaking. Look, I’m a Christian, but I also understand the historical issues at play here as far as genocide and oppression go. It’s one thing to speak to a Jewish person about their faith and your own faith in a personal setting. It’s another to mock them by randomly doing the sign of the cross as they make their public remarks.
It goes without saying that if any Republican did that, it would be blasted on the front pages as an anti-Semitic act. Further, you can bet your bottom dollar that the ADL would be going nuts. Jonathan Greenblatt wouldn’t be able to get his Twitter app open fast enough to formulate an angry denunciation.
Past that, Biden doesn’t even perform it properly. He did it backward, which is a good analogy for his entire mental state these days. It’s just embarrassing. We have a president who can’t be trusted to do his most basic duties, in this case, simply reading some prepared remarks without causing an international incident.
