The 81-year-old president, who is under intense scrutiny due to concerns about his chances of reelection following his weak debate performance last month, urged Israel to bring the fighting in Gaza to an end and revealed that the plan he is pushing for the post-war management of the Palestinian enclave will pave the way for a two-state solution.
“It’s time to end this war,” Biden said, addressing Israel. “It doesn’t mean walk away from going after [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar and Hamas.”
While US officials privately told the Times of Israel in May that the administration would still support Israel going after Hamas’s leadership after the war is over, this appeared to be the furthest Washington has gone in saying as much publicly.
The president’s news conference appeared to start on shaky footing after Biden mixed up the names of Vice President Kamala Harris and his opponent, former president Donald Trump, in response to a query about his confidence in Harris.
“I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president,” he said.
The error followed an earlier blunder from the president, who had mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.”
“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination, ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden had said, referring to Zelensky, before correcting himself.
“Going to beat President Putin, President Zelensky. I am so focused on beating Putin,” Biden quickly corrected himself to the sound of gasps. READ MORE
