US President Joe Biden on Sunday said that he heard the voices of Gaza war protesters as some students turned their backs on his graduation ceremony speech at the former university of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
A small number of graduates carried out the silent protest, with some holding Palestinian flags and one holding up a fist as Biden spoke at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
“I support peaceful, non-violent protest. Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them,” said Biden, who wore a maroon and black gown in the colors of the all-male university.
Photo: AFP
The speech was Biden’s most direct encounter with US students since the Gaza protests engulfed campuses nationwide.
“This is one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world. There’s nothing easy about it,” Biden said about Gaza.
“I know it angers and frustrates many of you, including my family, but most of all, I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine as well,” Biden said.
The 81-year-old Democrat added that he was pushing for a “lasting, durable peace” in the wider Middle East that would lead to an independent Palestinian state, which he called the “only solution.”
Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan briefed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the “potential” of a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia after holding talks in the region, the White House said.
Sullivan also called on the Israeli prime minister to link the military operation against Hamas in Gaza with a “political strategy” for the future of the Palestinian enclave, it said in a readout of the talks.
In a weekend of high-stakes diplomacy, Sullivan met Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Dharan on Saturday, before flying directly to Israel for talks with Netanyahu and other key officials.
“Mr Sullivan briefed Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team on these meetings and the potential that may now be available for Israel, as well as the Palestinian people,” the White House said.
Saudi Arabian state media reported earlier on Sunday that Sullivan and Prince Mohammed discussed a “semi-final” version of a deal expected to beef up security ties between their two countries.
That deal is considered a major part of Washington’s efforts to bring Riyadh around to a so-called mega-deal recognizing the state of Israel for the first time — efforts complicated by the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
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