White House officials, however, said that the President and the First Lady are on the same page regarding the conflict.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
President Joe Biden reportedly said that his wife Jill Biden has urged an immediate end to the war in Gaza and told him to “Stop it now.”
Salima Suswell, the founder of the Black Muslim Leadership Council, claims that Biden was quoting his wife Jill in conversation, according to the New York Times.
The First Lady addressed a gathering of American Muslims, which the President reportedly did not attend because his wife objected to his making an appearance, given his support for Israel in the war against Hamas.
Biden told several people, including Suswell, that he understood why his wife requested he stay away and quoted her private statements to him urging an end to the war.
“He said she said, ‘Stop it, stop it now, Joe,’” Ms. Suswell said.
White House officials, however, claimed that the President and the First Lady are on the same page regarding the conflict, with both of them lamenting Gazan civilian casualties yet both of them supporting Israel’s military goal of eliminating Hamas.
“Just like the President, the First Lady is heartbroken over the attacks on aid workers and the ongoing loss of innocent lives in Gaza,” Elizabeth Alexander, the First Lady’s communications director, said in a statement.
“They both want Israel to do more to protect civilians,” the statement continued, not mentioning Hamas’s rejection of a Hamas hostage deal and the plan for a six-week pause in fighting.
Although Biden has been vocal about his criticism of Israel’s planned Rafah operation, pro-Palestinian elements within the left-wing of the Democratic party have accused the president of failing to challenge the Israeli government, and there is some indication that this sentiment may hurt his chances with young, progressive Democratic voters in this year’s presidential election.
The President has received objections from officials at 40 government agencies, and so-called “uncommitted” voters who claimed double-digit percentages of votes in the Democratic Primary are putting pressure on Biden to stop supporting Israel.