During a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday, President Biden seemingly confused the situations in Ukraine and Gaza while discussing the conflict-ridden regions.
President Biden’s remarks began relatively smoothly as the president addressed the significant casualties of an incident which saw Israeli forces fire on Gazan people waiting in line for food aid.
“Today, I also, we’re going to discuss the Middle East and yesterday’s tragic and alarming event in north Gaza, trying to get humanitarian in there and the loss of life is heartbreaking,” Biden said. His remarks came in the context of addressing the casualties resulting from an attack on humanitarian aid trucks in Gaza the previous Thursday, which led to significant loss of life.
However, the president appeared to have yet another senior moment as his remarks continued, seemingly conflating the conflict in Gaza with that in the ethnically, geographically and linguistically distinct nation of Ukraine.
“People are so desperate that innocent people got caught in a terrible war to feed their families. And you saw the response when they tried to get aid. And we need to do more. And the United States will do more in the coming days. We’re going to join with our friends in Jordan and others in providing airdrops of, additional food and supplies into Ukraine and, seek to continue to open up other avenues in the Ukraine, including the possibility of a marine corridor, deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance in addition to expanding deliveries by land,” Biden continued.
The Gaza Strip is in fact a densely populated strip of land, about 141 square miles in area, in the Levant, which is under the de facto control of Hamas. The region has been subjected to multiple Israeli offensives and carpet bombings since October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel, leading to the current war.
Ukraine is actually an entirely distinct and different place: a predominantly Slavic republic which formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union and which has been at war with the Russian Federation ever since the latter invaded a little over two years ago. By all accounts, the Kingdom of Jordan has no significant role in providing aid to Ukraine — suggesting that President Biden had conflated the two in his 81-year-old mind.
President Biden continued following his digression about Ukraine, further emphasizing the need for Israel to facilitate the transportation of more trucks and routes to deliver aid to Gaza.
“No excuses. The truth is, aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough,” the president said.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also spoke during the meeting, though no questions were taken from reporters present.
This incident adds to a series of recent gaffes by Biden, including confusing NATO with Ukraine and mixing up the presidents of Mexico and Egypt. These slips have intensified scrutiny over the 81-year-old president’s mental fitness, especially following a report by special counsel Robert Hur on Biden’s handling of classified documents, which mentioned his “poor memory.”
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