Heartbroken over the loss of innocent lives
Jill Biden, the wife of U.S. President Joe Biden, has voiced her opposition to her husband’s support for Israel, according to a report by The New York Times (NYT) on June 3rd (local time).
Salima Suswell, the founder of the Black Muslim Leadership Council, recounted the scene in an interview, adding that she had scribbled down the president’s statements because it was so striking to hear that the first lady felt strongly about the conflict.
In response, the White House clarified that there was no daylight between Mr. Biden and the first lady on the conflict and that the president was as outraged by the civilian casualties as his wife had been. The officials said the first lady was not calling for Israel to end its efforts against Hamas.
Elizabeth Alexander, Jill Biden’s communications director, said in a statement, “Just like the president, the first lady is heartbroken over the attacks on aid workers and the ongoing loss of innocent lives in Gaza,” and “They both want Israel to do more to protect civilians.”
Jill Biden has been against American involvement in overseas conflicts in the past, partly because Beau Biden, Mr. Biden’s eldest son, enlisted in the Delaware Army National Guard in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq in 2008. She supported her husband’s decision to pull American troops out of Afghanistan despite the deadly, chaotic effort that followed.
A person who attended a White House function during the winter of 2022 was surprised at the first lady’s emotional response to someone praising President George W. Bush’s legacy: “He sent my son to war.”
Beau, the eldest son, was the son of President Biden’s first wife, who died in a car accident in 1972. He died of a brain tumor in 2015. President Biden remarried Jill Biden in 1977. Jill Biden raised her daughter Ashley and Beau and Hunter, the sons of Biden’s first wife.
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