Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on Monday, as hostilities in the Middle East could influence next month’s presidential election.
“I remain fully committed to the security of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist,” the American president said in a statement, adding that “far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year. of conflict.”
“I am devastated by the pain and mourning caused on October 7,” said the vice-president, Democratic candidate for the White House, before planting a pomegranate tree in the garden of her official residence.
Accompanied by her husband Doug Emhoff, of Jewish faith, Kamala Harris meditated for a moment in front of this tree symbolizing hope and virtue in the Jewish religion.
“We are not giving up. We are doing everything possible for a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages in Gaza,” she said, after reciting the first names of the seven Americans, “dead or alive”, still held in the Gaza Strip.
His Republican rival Donald Trump visited the grave of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi in New York early this afternoon.
Before organizing a ceremony, with the accents of a campaign meeting, in one of his properties in Florida.
“More harmonious Middle East”
“We must never forget the nightmare” of October 7, launched the Republican candidate, while assuring that “this attack” would “never have happened” if he had been in power.
The former president, who moved the American embassy to Jerusalem during his mandate, pledged that “the Jewish state would no longer be threatened with destruction” if he was elected on November 5.
“As you know, Hamas has been severely weakened and Hezbollah has recently suffered very significant setbacks. The dawn of a new, more harmonious Middle East is finally within reach, with good leaders and firmness,” he added.
Sharp with his solemn tone, the Republican candidate left the stage to the sound of YMCA, the Village People song that inevitably punctuates his meetings.
His successor Joe Biden organized a somber and brief ceremony at the White House.
A prayer was chanted by a rabbi who is a family friend of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and whose body was found on October 1er september. The American president then lit a candle in memory of the victims.
The commemorations underline the apparent powerlessness of the Biden government to influence the conduct of the war waged for a year by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Joe Biden like Kamala Harris affirmed that a “diplomatic solution” remained the “only possible path” towards a broader peace, at a time when Israel is also shelling Lebanon to attack Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, and says it is preparing a responds after the attack by Iran, support of Hamas, last Tuesday.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died in captivity.
Of the 251 people kidnapped during the attack, 97 are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.
Demonstrations
In response, the Israeli army launched a powerful offensive in the Gaza Strip with the aim of destroying Hamas, in power there since 2007.
Since then, entire sectors of the Palestinian territory have been reduced to ruins, almost all of its 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced and at least 41,909 Palestinians have been killed there, the majority civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government, deemed reliable by the UN.
Pro-Palestinian protests took place in New York and several American cities.
Since the Hamas attack, the war in the Middle East has not only continually weighed on the American electoral campaign, but it could also influence the result of the November 5 vote.
Kamala Harris plays a very delicate score.
She cannot openly break with Joe Biden’s line, but she is well aware that this line could cost her votes, particularly among American Muslims, in an ultra-close election where every ballot, or almost every ballot, counts.