Biden: If there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one
Washington (QNN)- US President Joe Biden told Israeli occupation President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday that “if there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one.”
Speaking to Herzog during a meeting which lasted 90 minutes, Biden said once again, “And I — I’ve often said, Mr. President, if there were — if there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one.”
He added, “I’ll say this 5,000 times in my career — the irontad [sic]– -clad commitment the United States has to Israel based on our principles, our ideas, our values. They’re the same values.”
Biden had previously made similar comments about ‘Israel’, most famously in 1986 during a session of the US Senate.
“It is the best three million dollar investment we make. Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region. The United States would have to go out an invent an Israel,” Biden said at that time.
In 2013, at the annual J Street conference, Biden also said, “If there were not an Israel, we would have to invent one to make sure our interests were preserved.”
Herzog’s visit to Washington this week was his first since assuming office. Herzog also met on Tuesday with Secretary of State Tony Blinken and discussed the escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank among other issues, the State Department’s office said.
Blinken told Herzog he is concerned about the situation in the West Bank and emphasized the need for all parties to urgently de-escalate the situation, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
