WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden spoke on Tuesday about the unprecedented terror assaults in Israel over the weekend, which horrified Israelis and the rest of the world.
President Biden said that at least 14 U.S. citizens were among those who died in the Hamas attack.
“We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas,” Biden added. “I’ve directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts in hostage recovery efforts.”
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also told reporters on Tuesday that, “We do not know about their condition and we cannot confirm a precise number of American citizens” who are held hostage.
“We believe that there are 20 or more Americans who at this point are missing,” Mr. Sullivan said. “But I want to underscore and stress that does not mean necessarily that there are 20 or more American hostages. Just that is the number who are currently unaccounted for.”
According to Israeli sources, over 1,000 people have been killed and thousands are seriously injured in the biggest attack on the country in half a century.
During his speech, President Biden called the Hamas attack an “act of sheer evil.” He said the assault “brought to the surface painful memories, the scars left by a millennia of antisemitism and genocide of the Jewish people.”
President Biden strongly condemned the attack, reiterating that the United States stands with Israel.
“When Congress returns I will ask them to take urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners,” he said. “This is not about party or politics. It’s about the security of our world, security of the United States of America.”
He also mentioned the surge in military aid to Israel, including ammunition and interceptors, to replenish the Iron Dome.
Massive Intelligence Failure
Many pundits and critics have questioned why the intelligence community failed to anticipate and avert the attack, even though it may have been painstakingly planned for months.When asked about Israel’s failure to anticipate the attack, Mr. Sullivan responded that that was a matter for the Israeli government to address.
“Obviously, the Israeli government has placed a high premium on its intelligence capacity as it relates to Hamas, as it relates to the West Bank, and as it relates to Hizballah. And why it is that they did not have a warning is not a question that I can answer,” he said.
“We did not see anything that suggested an attack of this type was going to unfold any more than the Israelis did,” he added when asked if there was a failure in U.S. intelligence.
The Biden administration faced criticism for urging an Israeli-Palestinian truce over the weekend following Hamas attacks.
On Saturday, the State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs posted a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, urging “all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks.” That statement was subsequently deleted after protests.
“This is disgraceful and every single person involved in drafting and approving this tweet should be immediately expelled from the U.S. government,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posted on X in response.
Similarly, Mr. Blinken’s account, which posted a message encouraging Turkey’s “advocacy for a cease-fire” on Sunday, was later deleted amid widespread criticism that it was too soon to call for Israel to withdraw its forces.
While Biden officials have not confirmed Iran’s direct involvement in recent attacks, they have admitted that Tehran has been the primary source of finance and training for the Hamas militants.
There’s “no question that there’s a degree of complicity here, but Iran has been supporting Hamas for many, many years,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during a press call on Monday.
Mr. Kirby added that the United States is looking into the “information stream” to determine Iran’s role.
“We haven’t seen hard, tangible evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing and planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off over the weekend,” he said.
Meanwhile, Republicans, citing Iran’s support for and possible direct in the Hamas assault on Israel, have criticized President Biden’s decision to release $6 billion in frozen Iran funds as part of a recent hostage release deal ahead of the attack.
Twenty Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Biden on Oct. 9, urging him “to immediately freeze the accounts” containing these Iran funds transferred to Qatar.
“We must stand with Israel and restrict access to these Iranian funds. Iran should be placed under the most stringent sanctions admissible. Anything short of this is unacceptable and only aids in the ability of Iran and Hamas to fund these heinous acts,” the letter said.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, in response to a question from The Epoch Times, said Iran can only use the $6 billion for humanitarian and other non-sanctioned activities.
Frozen Iranian accounts were established under the Trump administration in accordance with the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that President Barack Obama enacted.
After the United States withdrew in 2018 from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, there was a gradual reimposition of sanctions. This included freezing Iranian oil assets, which was done in 2019.
Iran could only access those frozen assets if they met certain criteria such as ceasing support for terrorism, certifiably eliminating its nuclear weapons program, releasing hostages, stopping taking people hostage, and ending its ballistic missile program.
Iran was never able to access those oil funds once the Trump administration froze them.
