Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. President Joe Biden, claimed on Wednesday in an interview with Britain’s LBC that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knew in advance that a Hamas attack was planned for Oct. 7, 2023, and failed to act to stop it.
Biden went further, claiming that “they” deliberately allowed the attack to happen so that they could carry out a “plan” that would not otherwise have won support. He made the comments in response to a question from interviewer Andrew Marr about his father’s stance on Israel in the wake of the Gaza war.
‘Bombshell report’
Biden opened with a sharp attack on Netanyahu and his government led by the Likud Party, pointing to a “bombshell” report that he said had been published a few days earlier, apparently referring to claims by Haaretz.
He cited “the quote unquote bombshell report that came out a few days ago, that Bibi Netanyahu was fully aware that there was an attack being planned for October 7th and did absolutely nothing about it.”
Biden then moved from a personal accusation against Netanyahu to a broader claim. “Everyone that has looked at this over the course of since October 7th—the event, which was horrific, horrific, and Hamas is horrific—has looked at it, they’ve said this,” he continued. “They knew what was coming, and they allowed it to happen for the purposes of being able to execute on a plan that no one would have ever given them the green light to do without it.”
Biden did not clarify who exactly he meant by “they,” did not present evidence that the attack was deliberately allowed and did not specify what “plan” he was referring to. In the interview, Biden also added that what is happening in Gaza is “akin to genocide” and claimed that Netanyahu has made the world’s Jews “more unsafe than they’ve ever been since World War II or since the Holocaust.”
‘Evil incarnate’
This is not the first time Biden has attacked Netanyahu and raised conspiracy theories about the Jewish state. In an interview last month with conservative and anti-Israel commentator Tucker Carlson, he called Netanyahu “evil incarnate” and claimed that a “Netanyahu operation center, the Israeli side,” was among those who spread material from his laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election. He acknowledged, however, that he had no confirmation of who was behind the leak.
In that same interview, Hunter Biden came to Carlson’s defense and rejected accusations of antisemitism against him. “I know you’re not an antisemite. I’m 100% sure you’re not,” Biden told Carlson.
