Thread by @SaraHirschhorn1

A short thread fact-checking Biden's "throw Israel under the bus" speech 🧵:

https://twitter.com/ShabbosK/status/1811582636197880126

1. ✅️Biden starts off with that nice little blood libel of Israel starving the Palestinians (this has been thoroughly debunked) of course without mentioning HAMAS stealing aid or shoddy organization of UN and other distributors

2.✅️Then we move right along to Biden blaming Israel's "most conservative govt in history" without recognizing that the war cabinet (RIP May 24) deliberately put centrists in control and excluded crazies like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.

3.✅️Oops Biden also fails to remember that is was/is HAMAS that started this massacre, killed, raped, pillaged, took hostages, has has been rocketing Israel since 2006, and is an intl designated terrorist organization backed by Iran. But let's just blame our old frenemy Bibi.

4.✅️Segueway to little ditty about Golda Meir, missing the point that Israel just experienced another 1973 war and Golda got it right when she knew the Jews may receive US support but ultimately are a people who stand alone in their war of survival

5.✅️Let's talk about Afghanistan shall we? But a cute revisionist history that slides Biden's disastrous "last chopper out of Nam/Kabul airport" disaster. Also, Afghanistan is not on the USA's border. And Bin-Laden wasn't Afghani. Hardly an equivalent story.

6.✅️And by the way, what did a Biden policy of "going after the top bad guys" get? No real evidence this has deterred radical Islam or its threats to the West. As Israel knows, killing Sinwar is not "mission accomplished " if you live next door.

7.✅️We should factcheck Biden's statement about HAMAS popularity- HAMAS support has actually increased dramatically in the West Bank and if elections were held today, they would likely take over there (or at least many major municipalities like Hebron and Nablus) today!

8.✅️Since we're talking polling, lets also mention that Joe, hate to break it to you, but your polling numbers in Israel are grim. People don't like you here as much anymore. [Good luck in Michigan which this speech seems targeted to.]

9.✅️And why don't they like you after your touching trip in Oct? Well, you mentioned holding up the bombs, failed pier, blame on Israel, and ceasefire without eliminating HAMAS or yourself offering a credible and reliable plan to govern Gaza besides vague gestures toward Arabs.

10.✅️But what you never mentioned in this speech was culpability and responsibility of HAMAS, the hostages, agency of Palestinians, collusion of intl organizations, a "day after" where October 7 never happens again, or the need to confront Iran which is behind all of this.

11.✅️I guess its easier to bash Israel and posture about your great diplomacy in the Arab world (haven't seen any receipts) than to confront realities of a US policy that negotiates with terrorists and can't get to an endline you so want before the elections.

12.✅️Israel itself has a dilemma- should it's security be subordinates to Biden's legacy?

13.✅️Of course HAMAS has no dilemmas - it does 10/7, gets to stay in power (or can easily regain control/rearm) no mention of hostages, not have its patron Iran confronted seriously, and just prepare for the next 10/7 it clearly wants to do - next time probably from West Bank.

14.✅️I'm glad Biden looks "with it" enough to give a speech throwing its best ally in the ME under the bus. But this isn't about optics, or swingstates, this is about the future of Israelis & Palestinians who have to live with the consequences of Biden's off-the-cuff remarks.

15.✅️Clearly many USA and Israel strategic aims are at an impasse, the Democratic party and Israeli politics are changing, and 10/7 was a trauma that even Americans on 9/11 can't fully grasp. This speech is just a sad and frustrating artifact of this reality. END.

*elides--damn you autocorrect

*its and * subordinated -- i hate my phone