President Joe Biden again asserted his belief that the driving factor behind Hamas' attack on Israel last month came in response to the diplomacy efforts with Saudi Arabia and Israel to bring peace to the Middle East.
Biden, holding a press conference Friday that coincided with the first exchange of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, first made the claim last month in a campaign speech. The gist Friday was the same as then — Hamas wanted to blunt the Abraham Accords that began under former President Donald Trump.
"I cannot prove what I'm about to say," Biden said Friday. "But I believe one of the reasons why Hamas struck when they did was they knew that I was working very closely with the Saudis and others in the region to bring peace to the region by having recognition of Israel and Israel's right to exist."
Biden's comments come two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted the same thing in an interview with Newsmax.
"It's connected," Netanyahu said of the current war and the bilateral agreements, "because we can achieve the expansion of the Abraham Accords, the stark arrangement, peace deal that Israel made with four Arab countries. We want to expand it to Saudi Arabia and beyond. But we're facing here the Axis of Terror of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen," Netanyahu told "The Record with Greta Van Susteren," in an interview that took place in Israel.
On Oct. 20, Biden said Hamas unleashed its massacre on Israeli civilians beginning Oct. 7 because he "was about to sit down with the Saudis," adding "the Saudis wanted to recognize Israel."
Biden on Friday also touted the rail project that would connect India to Europe through the Middle East, an effort that also included the UAE and Jordan as well as Saudi Arabia and Israel.
"The whole idea there's overwhelming interest, and I think most Arab nations know that and are coordinating with one another to change the dynamic in their region for longer term peace," Biden said. "And that is what I'm going to continue to work on."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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