During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Thursday, President Biden joked that he has known the Jewish state’s leaders since childhood.
“Mr. President,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting, “we’ve known each other for 40 years, and you’ve known Israeli prime ministers for 50 years, starting with Golda Meir. So from a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the State of Israel, and I look forward to discussing with you today and working with you on the big challenges that face us in the months ahead.”
Biden responded, “I look forward to it too. And by the way, when I first met with Prime Minister Golda Meir, sitting next to her was an assistant named Rabin. That was that long ago. I was only 12 years old then. Anyway, I want to thank you all for being here.”
Biden was referring to Yitzhak Rabin, who served as Israel’s prime minister from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1992 until his assassination in 1995.
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Meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Thursday, President Biden joked that he has been meeting with leaders of the Jewish state since he was a child. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Biden actually met Meir and Rabin in 1973, when he was a 30-year-old senator, and the story has been told often. Three years ago, Biden falsely claimed he was a “liaison” between Israel and Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War while he was in law school.
“I’ve known every prime minister since Golda Meir very well, including Golda Meir,” Biden said at the menorah lighting ceremony in 2021. “And during the Six-Day War, I had the opportunity to be invited by her because I was supposed to be her liaison on the Suez issue in Egypt.”
He had actually met with Meir just before the Yom Kippur War in October 1973.
“I was sitting at her desk,” he added at the time. “To my right was a man from her staff, his name was Rabin. She was flipping through a map over and over. She had lots of maps, and she kept them. And her story of what happened, her story was very depressing. She told me all the details.”
Biden’s team confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that he was joking about his age.
After the brief meeting, the two leaders ignored questions shouted by reporters about a possible ceasefire and anti-Israel protests.
Netanyahu’s speech to parliament on Wednesday sparked anti-Israel protests in the capital, with some people marching through the streets chanting “Free Palestine” while others waved Hamas flags, burned US flags and painted graffiti.
A statue of Christopher Columbus outside Union Station was tagged with a warning: “Hamas is coming.”
During his speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu slammed the protesters, calling them “Iran’s useful idiots.”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress in the House of Representatives chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
““I have a message for protesters: You have officially become Iran’s useful fools, because you are being praised, promoted and funded by the tyrants in Tehran who hang gays from cranes and kill women for not covering their hair,” Netanyahu said.
“Some protesters hold up signs saying ‘Gays to Gaza’, which is no different from ‘Chicken to KFC’. Protesters shout ‘From the river to the sea’, but barely have a clue which river or sea they are referring to.”
A person spray paints the base of the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain as pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest near the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Thomas/AFP via Getty Images)
He spoke to a nearly full House chamber that included lawmakers and special guests such as billionaire Elon Musk, a former Israeli hostage who was released from Hamas captivity on October 7.
Among those in the chamber was Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), one of the House’s fiercest critics of Israel, who has called for Netanyahu to be arrested by the International Criminal Court. She held up a double-sided sign that read “Guilty of Genocide” on one side and “Guilty of War Crimes” on the other and remained in silent protest throughout much of the prime minister’s speech.
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The Biden administration is also expected to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza as the war continues.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo, Elizabeth Elkind and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
