![US President Biden delivers remarks on how his Investing in America Agenda is advancing his vision for world-class infrastructure across the country at the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on December 8, 2023 [Tayfun Coşkun - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AA-20231209-33138334-33138315-US_PRESIDENT_BIDEN_VISITS_LAS_VEGAS.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
US President, Joe Biden, pledged to continue supplying arms to Israel in its war against Gaza during a Hanukkah reception at the White House last night, reported the Times of Israel.
However, he cautioned that Israel should be mindful of changing global sentiment in its efforts to dismantle the Palestinian group, Hamas. Addressing the audience, including Holocaust survivors, Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, and members of Congress, Biden expressed concern about the rising global anti-Semitism and received applause for the administration’s aid efforts for Gaza.
He said, “We continue to provide military assistance until they get rid of Hamas, but we have to be careful. The whole world, public opinion can shift overnight. We can’t let that happen.”
Biden also acknowledged his occasional disagreements with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and revealed that Netanyahu still has a photo from a 1973 meeting, with the President having scrawled a message: “Bibi, I love, but I don’t agree with a damn thing you have to say.”
“It’s about the same today,” Biden announced to the audience.
“As I said after the 7 October attack, my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, and the security of Israel, its right to exist as an independent Jewish state, is unshakeable,’ he said.
“You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. I am a Zionist. Were there no Israel, there would not be a Jew in the world who is safe,” he added.
It comes after the US administration, on Saturday, approved an emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth $106.5 million, without a congressional review.
Israel had requested to buy 13,981 tank cartridges and related equipment, the US Defence Department’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.
The death toll in Gaza has risen to over 18,200 Palestinians, while the number of those injured now stands at 50,000, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said yesterday.
Ministry of Health spokesman, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said during a press conference after 66 days of the Israeli aggression that the toll of the aggression has risen to 18,205 martyrs and 49,645 injuries since 7 October.
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