It’s a rare moment indeed when President Joe Biden notices that he’s making a gaffe. Thank heavens for small mercies, I suppose.
Perhaps you could chalk this one up under the big mercies column, however, given the topic Biden was speaking on: the Holocaust.
And you could even give this one an upgrade to the huge mercies category when you consider the occasion: His arrival in Israel on his first Middle East tour as president.
(That this could have gone even worse than it did is a sign Biden shouldn’t be the commander in chief, of course — something we’ve been documenting here at The Western Journal since day one. We’ll keep bringing readers the news and analysis the mainstream media won’t regarding the president’s unfitness to serve. You can help by subscribing.)
The gaffe came during a speech on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv after the president arrived Wednesday, as Biden talked about the ties that bound America with the Jewish state.
“We’re going to celebrate the ending of people-to-people connection and the enduring connection that binds our nations together, and commemorate the history that we must never allow to repeat itself,” he said.
“Later today, I will once more return to the hallowed ground of Yad Sh- — Vashem to honor the 6 million Jewish lives that were stolen in a genocide and continue — which we must do every, every day — continue to bear witness, to keep alive the truth and honor of the Holocaust,” he continued.
He quickly corrected himself, however: “Horror of the Holocaust, honor those we lost so that we never, ever, ever forget that lesson, you know, and to continue our shared, unending work to fight the poison of anti-Semitism wherever it rises its ugly head. Wherever we find it in the world, we make real on the promise of ‘never again’ by taking it on.”
As you may notice, there were at least three gaffes in this short part of the speech.
First, the official White House transcript made a point of crossing out the words “ending of” when Biden talked of how they were “going to celebrate the ending of people-to-people connection” and put a bracketed correction indicating the president meant “enduring.”
Next, Biden had to give it two goes in order to pronounce the name of Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
But, of course, the biggie was the president’s accidental pledge “to keep alive the truth and honor of the Holocaust.”
Yes, he corrected himself, which is a remarkably low bar. You would think that, on one of those note cards with printed directions that someone at the White House is slipping Biden before major events, you would see it printed in a 40-point font: “YOU. DO. NOT. Mess up ANYTHING involving the Holocaust.”
No, Joe Biden didn’t sign an Executive Order, his TELEPROMPTER did. Joe Biden needs note cards just to enter a room these days. pic.twitter.com/YZRLDxBxSu
— MARTY (@WALSTGUY) July 8, 2022
This is a joke, right? Biden literally has note cards that tell him exactly what to say, and who he’s even talking to (because he can’t remember), at all times. pic.twitter.com/xfuG6leA69
— Brendan A (@reajin1) October 7, 2021
The big headlines from Biden’s arrival should have been laudable ones for an administration that’s been floundering badly at home.
On Wednesday, after his arrival, the president visited Yad Vashem, where, Fox News reported, he “was invited to rekindle the eternal flame in the memorial’s Hall of Remembrance. Two Marines placed a wreath on the stone crypt containing the ashes of Holocaust victims and Biden listened as a cantor recited the remembrance prayer.”
If Wednesday was supposed to be a day of symbolism, Thursday was meant to be a day of substance.
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid were scheduled to sign a joint declaration increasing the security relationship between the two nations in order to counter Tehran’s ambitions in the region. CNN noted the declaration includes language promising “a commitment to never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”
Is Joe Biden unfit to serve as president?
The declaration also was set to reiterate U.S. support for the Abraham Accords — the normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, a key foreign policy achievement of former President Donald Trump’s administration.
This, in other words, should have been a rare easy win for Biden. Instead, even abroad, he couldn’t escape moments like this one from last week:
Joe Biden finishes reading a sentence from the teleprompter with “…end of quote. Repeat the line.”pic.twitter.com/haS5pIldDh
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 8, 2022
Say what you will about that teleprompter gaffe, though: It didn’t involve the Holocaust.
It didn’t involve 6 million dead individuals.
And it didn’t involve the leader of the free world mixing “honor” and “horror” when talking about the worst genocide in modern human history.
