President Joe Biden held a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
It was the first time the two leaders have met in person since Biden visited Israel shortly after the horrific Oct. 7 attack, and Biden and Netanyahu shook hands and spoke briefly before reporters were ushered out of the Oval Office.
A White House reporter shouted a pointed question to the president: “Are you withdrawing from the 2024 election for health reasons?”
“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 great challenges we face in the months ahead,” Netanyahu said.
Biden, meanwhile, spoke of his history of diplomatic work with Israeli leaders, going all the way back to Golda Meir half a century ago.
After reporters were cleared from the Oval Office, bilateral talks between Biden, Netanyahu and the US and Israeli delegations began. A senior administration official who observed the talks in advance said the discussions would focus on the Middle East, particularly the war between Israel and Hamas.
After a public meeting that lasted just 134 seconds, According to this C-SPAN video: The two leaders and their delegations were scheduled to meet with the families of American hostages being held by Hamas.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from the brief public meeting was the question Biden answered using his body language.
After Biden and Netanyahu finished their brief speeches and posed for photos, a White House reporter shouted a pointed question to the president: “Are you withdrawing from the 2024 election for health reasons?”
This is an important question because Biden A letter announcing his decision Resignation and Wednesday’s Oval Office speech Not specified Why did he choose to withdraw from the race?
But on Thursday, Biden finally appeared to answer that question.
“When asked in the Oval Office if he was dropping out of the race for health reasons, President Biden shook his head,” reporter Reagan Reese reported.
A second reporter, Nadia Bilbassy Charters, corroborated Rees’ report.
“Reporters shouted questions at him but he gave no reply and appeared to shake his head when asked if health issues had caused him to withdraw from the election,” Bilbashi Charters wrote in the commission’s report.
The bilateral meeting took place the day after Netanyahu spoke to parliament, during which his presence in Washington sparked riots in the capital as far-left pro-Hamas demonstrators burned American flags and waved Hamas flags.
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