President Biden faced sharp criticism overnight after critics compared his comments about anti-Israel protesters to statements he has long criticized made by former President Trump.
“Those protesters in the streets are right,” Biden said at the Democratic Party convention on Monday, referring to the anti-Israel demonstrators who had gathered at the police fence outside the United Center in Chicago during the day.
“Many innocent people are killed on both sides.”
In his criticism of Trump, Biden has repeatedly referred to the anti-Semitic violence in Charlottesville in the US state of Virginia in 2017 – Trump himself called this a “Very Fine People Hoax”.
Biden says DNC anti-Israel protesters are ‘right’
Neo-Nazis, alt-right supporters and white supremacists attend the eve of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. White supremacists march with tiki torches on the campus of the University of Virginia. (Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
That same year, when torch-wielding fanatics invaded Thomas Jefferson’s hometown and a law clerk was killed in the melee, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides.” He has repeatedly said since then, comparing a local group opposing the destruction of the city’s statue of General Robert E. Lee with those calling for its removal.
Trump and others have suggested that the anti-Semitic gang took advantage of the position of peaceful locals protesting the desecration of the Confederate general from their home state. The statue was eventually melted down.
“Biden just gave the conflict between Hamas and Israel a very nice line that involves people on both sides. A disgrace,” said former McConnell adviser Scott Jennings in response.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote on X: “And just like that, Joe Biden is legitimizing Nazis.”
“This is something he falsely accused Trump of earlier in his speech.”
TRUMP CONDEMNS ‘BRAINWASHED’ ANTI-ISRAEL MOB AND QUESTIONS SCHUMER’S SILENCE
People participate in the March to the DNC in Chicago on Monday, August 19, 2024. Pro-Hamas demonstrators have come to the Windy City to protest the government’s handling of the conflict in the Middle East. (Fox News Digital)
Fox News contributor Mark Thiessen pointed out that Biden’s defense of the anti-Israel mob and Trump’s recent condemnation of Charlottesville came almost simultaneously.
In Biden’s only debate appearance before withdrawing the Democratic nomination, Trump said: “That story has been completely blown out of the water. He says he ran because of Charlottesville. He didn’t run because of Charlottesville: He ran because it was his last chance (to become president).”
On X, the New Mexico Republican Party flagged Biden’s comments against a backdrop of photos and videos of protesters, including a crowd chanting “DNC, go home – or we’ll bring the war home.”
Meanwhile, former Trump speechwriter Stephen Miller said this shows that Biden is “completely falling for the Charlottesville hoax,” calling it the “most debunked, refuted and discredited hoax in existence.”
Miller, now president of America First Legal, said the president was deliberately “stirring up hatred” just weeks after Trump was nearly assassinated.
“It’s more than abhorrent, it’s psychotic,” he said. “It’s their excuse for authoritarianism.”
British-American conservative author Ian Haworth also expressed his disbelief at Biden’s comment, writing on X that the president had said the protesters were “right.”
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“Those wearing Hamas headbands, waving Hezbollah flags and shouting ‘Intifada’? This from a man who claims to be a Zionist.”
“This was supposed to be Biden’s ‘fine people on both sides’ moment, with one difference: He actually said it,” Haworth added, noting that Trump’s characterization matched that of the Lee statue supporters.
New York radio host Mark Simone further summarized Biden’s contradictory statements.
“The only person who said there were fine people on the Nazi side was Joe Biden,” Simone said.
