Biden Won’t Apologize for Calling Civilian Casualties ‘Price of War’: White House

US President Joe Biden (R) and Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese walk along the colonnade of the White House in Washington, DC on October 25, 2023. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden is not going to apologize for questioning the civilian death numbers coming out of Hamas-controlled Gaza or for calling Palestinian deaths “the price” of the terrorist group waging a war on Israel, the White House said.

The original remarks, condemned by the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as “shocking” and “dehumanizing,” were made by President Biden on Wednesday during a joint press conference alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” the president said, noting that he hopes the Israelis act in an “incredibly careful” way in their military campaign and make sure they only go after “the folks that are propagating this war.”

“But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using,” he added.

The CAIR, “deeply disturbed and shocked” by President Biden’s comments, demanded that he issue and apology, condemn the Israeli government for “deliberately targeting civilians,” and work towards a ceasefire.

“President Biden should watch some of these videos and ask himself if the crushed children being dragged out of the ruins of their family homes are a fabrication or an acceptable price of war. They are neither,” Nihad Awad, the CAIR’s executive director, said in a press release.

John Kirby Fires Back

When asked about the CAIR’s demands at a press conference on Thursday, White House spokesman John Kirby said his boss does not regret “being honest” about the uncomfortable realities of the war, nor will he apologize for that.

“Don’t you think this is insensitive? There have been very harsh criticism about it,” asked Raquel Krähenbühl of Brazil’s TV Globo.

“What’s harsh is the way Hamas is using people as human shields,” Mr. Kirby replied. “What’s harsh is taking a couple of hundred hostages and leaving families anxious, waiting and worrying to figure out where their loved ones are. What’s harsh is dropping in on a music festival and slaughtering a bunch of young people just trying to enjoy an afternoon. I could go on and on. That’s what’s harsh.”

“And being honest about the fact that there have been civilian casualties and that there likely will be more is being honest, because that’s what war is. It’s brutal. It’s ugly. It’s messy,” he continued. “It doesn’t mean we have to like it. It doesn’t mean that we’re dismissing any one of those casualties.”

If Hamas does care about Palestinian lives, Mr, Kirby argued, it should have allowed Palestinian civilians to leave the northern part of Gaza in the wake of Israel’s evacuation warning, instead of continuing to use those civilians and civilian facilities as human shields.

“It would be helpful if Hamas would let them leave—leave their homes, leave the area, not shelter in tunnels underneath their houses and in hospitals,” he told Ms. Krähenbühl. “We know that there are thousands waiting to leave Gaza writ large. And Hamas is preventing them from doing it. That is what is harsh.”

Washington Rejects Ceasefire Calls

With President Biden pledging complete support for Israel, the American delegate to the United Nations has firmly resisted calls for a ceasefire.

The U.N. Security Council, on which the United States, Russia, and China hold veto power, is still unable to deliver a resolution that would halt the conflict rekindled by Hamas’s unprecedented surprise attacks on Israeli communities.

During Wednesday’s vote in the 15-member council, the United States vetoed a Russian-drafted resolution that would have called for an immediate “humanitarian cease-fire” and unequivocally condemned Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s “indiscriminate attacks” on civilians in Gaza.

Also failed at the meeting was a U.S.-led resolution emphasizing the “inherent right of all states” to defense themselves while calling for compliance with international law. It would support “humanitarian pauses” so that critical supplies could be able to flow into Gaza and to the people who need them, but not a full ceasefire.

The U.S. measure did secure the votes it needed to advance out of the council, but was ultimately vetoed by Russia and China. The United Arab Emirates also voted against the proposal, and Brazil and Mozambique abstained from vote.

“The United States is deeply disappointed that Russia and China vetoed this resolution. A resolution that, as I’ve said, was strong and it was balanced,” said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield following the vote.

“Though today’s vote was a setback, we must not be deterred,” she added, reiterating that Washington’s goal is “to build a more peaceful and secure future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

In the meantime, Washington is providing Israel with much-needed ammunition to replenish its multibillion-dollar “Iron Dome” air defense system, which has so far successfully intercepted most of the rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza.

The Pentagon has also ordered two aircraft carrier strike groups—including the one centered around the USS Gerald R. Ford, America’s newest and most technologically advanced warship—to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, with the goal to “deter hostile actions against Israel” and prevent the war from spiraling into a wider conflict.