October 7: Biden and Harris committed to Israel, call for peace

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Monday expressed their support forIsrael, one year after the unprecedented attack by Hamas, while calling for an elusive peace in the Middle East, as the conflict could affect on the presidential election next month.

“I remain totally committed to the security of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and for its right to exist,” the American president said in a statement.

“Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict,” – he added.

“I will never forget the horror of October 7, 2023,” the vice president, a Democratic candidate for the White House, said in a separate statement.

She said she was “heartbroken by the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year,” adding: “I will always fight to ensure that Palestinians can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination.”

Her Republican rival Donald Trump visited the grave of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi in New York where he took part in a prayer, wearing a black kippah.

“The atrocities (…) of October 7 would never have happened if President Trump were still in the White House,” his campaign team said in a statement, deeming it “imperative” that he win the election in order to “end the bloodshed caused by the Iranian terrorist regime, which is stronger and richer today because of the weakness and incompetence of the Biden-Harris administration.”

The former president is due to attend another ceremony in Miami in the early evening.

– Candle –

His successor Joe Biden held a brief and somber ceremony at the White House.

With his eyes closed at times, he listened to a funeral prayer chanted by a Rabbi, family friend of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and whose body was found on September 1. After a moment of silence, he lit a candle in memory of the victims.

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Vice President Kamala Harris plans to plant a tree to mark the first anniversary of the massacre by the Palestinian Islamist movement in Israel, which Washington is the primary military backer of.

The commemorations also highlight the Biden administration's apparent powerlessness to influence the conduct of the year-long war waged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Both Biden and Harris have said that a “diplomatic solution” remains the “only path” to broader peace, at a time when Israel is also pounding Lebanon to attack Hamas-allied Hezbollah and says it is preparing a response after Iran, a Hamas backer, attacked on Tuesday.

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died in captivity.

– Demonstrations –

In response, the Israeli army launched a powerful offensive in the Gaza Strip with the aim of destroying Hamas, which has been in power since 2007.

Since then, entire sectors of the Palestinian territory have been reduced to rubble, almost all of its 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced and at least 41,909 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas government's Health Ministry, considered reliable by the UN.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are expected in New York and several American cities.

Since the Hamas attack, the war in the Middle East has not only been a constant burden on the American election campaign, but it could also influence the outcome of the vote on 5 November.

Kamala Harris is walking on eggshells, having succeeded as the party's candidate Joe Biden, whose outspoken support for the Israeli prime minister alienated part of the left wing and American Muslims.

The anniversary comes at a time when everyone fears a regional conflagration as they await Israel's response to Iran.

The American president advised Israel on Friday not to attack Iranian oil sites, also saying he was opposed to any strike targeting Iran's nuclear program. Conversely, Donald Trump has said that Israel should “strike” Iranian nuclear facilities.

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