In an interview with MSNBC that aired on Thursday's broadcast of “The Last Word,” President Joe Biden spoke about reducing civilian casualties during a visit to Israel days after the Oct. 7 attack. He said he was the first to tell Israel to curb its attacks on Hamas. attack.
Mr. Biden said: [relevant remarks begin around 40:25] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “was going after me for saying that you cannot indiscriminately bomb civilian areas, even if there are bad guys there. Even if there are bad guys there, one bad guy… I caught the You can't eliminate two, 10, 12, 1,500 innocent people. And he put forth a valid argument, his point of view, and said, look, my people. There are people killing, all over these tunnels. No one knew there were miles of tunnels out there. And it's amazing what they've built, sometimes 200 feet underground. The only way to get there is to take out where they were, which is where they got to the tunnel. So that was the first time for me — the first time I discussed bombing civilian areas. , when I went there after the massacre…
Moderator Lawrence O'Donnell asked: “So in your first visit, 10 or 11 days after October 7, you already raised the question of how to reach a ceasefire?”
“It's not about a ceasefire, it's about how to prevent innocent deaths,” Biden replied. And I really pushed for more humanitarian aid and how to do it. And Bibi, to be fair to Bibi, he also has a strong coalition. He fielded the most conservative cabinet of any Israeli prime minister to date. ”
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