'You misunderstood': White House officials clarify Biden's statement linking IMEC to Hamas onslaught
White House spokesperson John Kirby
A day after Joe Biden said that he believed progress by the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) triggered Hamas' attack on Israel, White House officials said that the US President was "misunderstood".
"This is an instinct that the IMEC Corridor announced at the G20 Summit may have precipitated Hamas terrorist attack against Israel," the media personnel said, raising questions at the White House press briefing on Friday (Oct 27).
In response, White House spokesperson John Kirby said, "I think you misunderstood him. What he said was that he believed that the normalisation process and the agreement that we were trying to reach between Israel and Saudi Arabia for normalisation, which we believe is an important stepping stone to getting to a two-state solution, was what may have motivated Hamas to — to conduct those attacks."
"I think you misunderstood what he actually said," he reiterated.
Biden on Thursday (Oct 26) said, "I am convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can’t leave that work behind."
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IMEC
The intercontinental connectivity projectwas announced in September during the G20 Summit hosted by New Delhi.
The IMEC will comprise an Eastern Corridor connecting India to the Gulf region and a Northern Corridor connecting the Gulf region to Europe. It will include a railway and ship-rail transit network and road transport routes.
Watch |Israel-Palestine war: Israel vs Hamas at the United Nations
US President Biden hit a major roadblock right after the October 7 Hamas attack as it came at a time when the country was playingmediator in normalising ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
After the massive onslaught which led to the killing of thousands in Israel and Gaza, Saudi Arabia reportedly put on halt the plans of normalisation of ties with Israel.
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