Remarks by President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel Before Bilateral Meeting | Tel Aviv, Israel

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"Well, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much.

Look, folks, I wanted to be here today for a simple reason. I wanted the people of Israel, the people of the world to know where the United States stands.

I've had my great Secretary of State here. He's been here for -- a lot. But I wanted to personally come and make that clear.

The terrorist group Hamas has slaughtered, as has been pointed out, over 1,300 people -- and it is not hyperbole to suggest "slaughtered" -- "slaughtered" -- and -- including 31 Americans as part of that.

And they've taken scores of people hostage, including children. You said: Imagine what those children hiding from Hamas were thinking. It's beyond my comprehension to be able to imagine what they were thinking. Beyond my comprehension.

They're -- committed evils that -- and atrocities that make ISIS look somewhat more rational.

You know, Americans are grieving with you. They really are. And Americans are worried. Americans are worried because we know there's -- this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do.

But the fact is that Israel, as they respond to these attacks, it seems to me that -- have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves. And we're going to make sure that occurs, as you know.

And we have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has brought them only suffering.

You know, years ago, I asked the Secretary of State, when he and I were working in the Senate, to write something for me. And he said -- he wrote a line that I think is appropriate. He said, "It's not -- we lead not just…" Well, I won't go into it. I'll wait until later. I'm taking too much time.

But the point is this -- that I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday. And based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not -- not you. But there's a lot of people out there who are not sure.

So, we got a lot of -- we got to overcome a lot of things.

And it also means encouraging lifesaving capacity to help the Palestinians who are innocent, caught in the middle of this.

And -- well, any rate, that's -- that's who we are -- not just me, but I mean that's who the United States is. And it's just not the example of our power, it's the power of our example that's almost as important.

The world is looking. We -- Israel has a value set like the United States does and other democracies, and -- and they're looking to see what we're going to do.

So, Mr. Prime Minister, I'm very happy to be back in Israel with you. Thank you for having me. And I'm looking forward to having a thorough discussion about where everybody goes from here.

But thank you.

And I want to say to the people of Israel: Their courage, their commitment, their bravery is -- is stunning. It's really stunning. I'm proud to be here."

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