Believe it or not, there was a time when Joe Biden resisted calls to tell Israel to “show restraint” after its citizens were attacked by terrorists, defended Israel’s right to go after Hamas or Hezbollah’s weapons, even if they’re located at airports or hospitals or in residential areas – after admitting that the terror orgs sometimes hide missiles and rockets in these areas.
Biden also acknowledged that sometimes innocent people are killed in a war as a country is carrying out its legitimate objectives.
In the recently resurfaced video from a July 19, 2006 press conference then-Sen. Joe Biden, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) addressed reporters about a Hezbollah attack on Israel, U.S. foreign policy, and humanitarian aid to Lebanon. A week earlier, Hezbollah launched a rocket and mortar attack into Israel from southern Lebanon as a diversion to allow a group of militants to enter Israeli territory. Those militants came upon two IDF humvees that were responding to the attack, killed three of the five IDF soldiers in the group, and took the other two back into Lebanon as hostages. This conflict eventually became known as the Second Lebanon War.
Journalist Sharyl Atkisson, then with CBS, referenced people (likely in the media) who were blaming Israel and calling for the U.S. to tell Israel to “show restraint.” Sound familiar? The 2006 version of Joe Biden was having none of that. Atkisson said:
Just trying to figure out — from what I’ve heard up here, there seems to be pretty unequivocal support for Israel, but I’m hearing on the news Americans who are over there blaming Israel and sometimes calls, maybe it’s from the media; I’m not sure if it’s from constituents, to tell Israel to show restraint. Do you know anybody who feels that way? Are you getting calls from constituents about that?
Extraordinary 2006 video (found by @phillyrich1) of Senator Biden discussing (responding to @SharylAttkisson) the proper reaction when civilians are hurt when Israel must fight Hezbollah or Hamas https://t.co/fbQTKLBXgH pic.twitter.com/NojEyqRaSR
— David Shor (@DYShor) May 10, 2024
Biden’s answer is long, but I’m reporting it here in its totality (with some commentary thrown in):
I’m sure there are people who feel that way, and it’s understandable. If you’re an American citizen inside — if you’re an American citizen in Beirut and Israel is moving against it, you find yourself in harm’s way and I’m sure you’re concerned about it.
But we had a brief conversation earlier. I — in my meeting with the President yesterday I asked the question, how efficacious is the Israeli action? And my staff has briefed me, and I got the same response down there, and I gave one example. At this time yesterday morning, there was talk that an Israeli aircraft had been shot down because there was a major explosion in a suburb of Beirut that was a residential area. It turns out what was happening, to the best of my knowledge, is that they were taking out one of these long-range rockets out of a residential neighborhood on a flatbed truck, the Israelis hit it, it blew up — the rocket itself blew up, and it caused this incredible explosion.
Amazing. There were explosions in a residential area that weren’t due to Israeli “aggression” or alleged “genocide,” but were due to a legitimate military target being located in that residential area. Think back to all of the videos that have recently been shown from Gaza where Israel was allegedly bombing civilian residential areas but the explosion was pretty massive…
Next, Biden states as a fact that these cowards hide in hospital rooms and import missiles from “Syria and other places,” and explains why Israel needed to bomb a target at an airport in Lebanon:
These guys are cowards. Hezbollah are a bunch of cowards. These are guys that hide in hospital rooms. They take missiles — they actually have these missiles, apparently, in residential neighborhoods. They actually move these missiles and these weapons of destruction from Syria and other places.
The last point I’ll make. Think about — I have to admit to you, I said, why are the Israelis going after the airport? I don’t get that. Well, I figured out finally why. I was informed why. That missile that was radar-guided, that went after the Israeli ship off the shore of Beirut, the radars were at the airport, and they’re worried about resupply of those missiles coming. And they don’t bring these missiles in in Syrian cargo planes. They bring these missiles in over the road and/or, my guess is, literally probably in the aisle of a commercial 727. I don’t know that for a fact, but that’s what’s happening.
Now, I’m not sure about this last part, about Hezbollah bringing missiles to Lebanon in the aisle of a commercial 727. That sounds a bit like the Tall Tale Biden we all know so well these days.
In this next section, Biden sounds a bit like Donald Trump when talking about his criticism of the Israelis.
So the Israelis are put in an untenable position. My only criticism of the Israelis is, they’re not that great at public relations. If I were them, I’d be pointing out why I went after the airport. I’d be pointing out what the reason was, assuming it didn’t compromise sources and methods.
But I don’t see how we could say — and it’s a little bit like the same thing we had when we went into Afghanistan. We went into Afghanistan, remember we took out a wedding party by accident? Remember we took out, with these very sophisticated missiles we have, we accidentally killed some citizens? Was there ever a war more justified than us going into Afghanistan? I can’t think of any war since World War 2 more justified. Yet innocents got killed in us trying to protect America’s interests. It is overwhelmingly regrettable.
But what it should do, instead of generating an outrage from the rest of the world, it should generate outrage from the rest of the world to go at the root cause of this thing and unite, unite with us, unite with Israel. And not merely the condemnation, but setting up the circumstances where this doesn’t grow again.
Absolutely, Joe. What happened on October 7, 2023, should generate outrage to go at the root cause of this thing and unite with Israel to set up circumstances where this doesn’t grow again.
Instead, he’s working to make sure it ends up like Afghanistan did for us. And with some of the U.S. weapons he left there.
