White House clarifies Joe Biden's remarks on IMEC and Hamas Attack as 'misunderstood'
Hamas attacks. They also suggested that the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia might have influenced Hamas to carry out those attacks.
White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson John Kirby responded to a question concerning Biden's suggestion that one of the factors contributing to Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel was the recent announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, which aims to connect the entire region through a network of railways, roads, and ports, ANI reported. Also Read: 'My instinct tells me' Joe Biden says progress on economic corridor as factor in Hamas' attack on Israel Kirby said, “I think you misunderstood him.
What he said was that he believed that the normalization process and the agreement that we were trying to reach between Israel and Saudi Arabia for normalization, which we believe is an important stepping stone to getting to a two-state solution, was what may have motivated Hamas to conduct those attacks." “I think you misunderstood what he actually said," he added. Earlier, in a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, President Biden mentioned that his evaluation is grounded in his instincts and doesn't rely on substantial evidence.
“I'm convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can’t leave that work behind," Biden said.
Biden had mentioned the IMEEC as a potential motive for the recent Hamas terrorist attack for the second time in less than a week. The corridor comprises an eastern corridor connecting India to the
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