Biden: ‘I’m a Zionist,’ but the ‘Southern Parts of the Country’ Didn’t Like That

President Joe Biden told guests at the White House Hanukkah party on Monday evening that “I am a Zionist,” though he prefaced it by saying that residents of the South did not like that.

Biden addressed the gathering on the fifth night of Hanukkah (also spelled “Chanukah”), after the traditional blessings had been recited and the menorah had been lit.

Biden’s full quote was:

The Talmud says, “What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.” That’s the warmth and kinship I feel so deeply with the Jewish community. I got in trouble — got criticized very badly by the southern part of my state and some of the southern parts of the country when, 35 years ago, I said, “You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.” And I’m a Zionist. (Cheers) You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. Hanukkah is a timeless story of miracles …

It is not clear why Biden singled out “the southern parts of the country.” Conservative Americans, at least today, tend to be more pro-Israel than their liberal counterparts. A Wall Street Journal poll Monday showed that Republicans are more supportive of Israel than Democrats, who are deeply divided on the issue.

Biden was accompanied by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, though he had botched the Hanukkah story in a socia media post earlier on Monday.

Biden also said that the U.S. would support Israel with military assistance “until they get rid of Hamas.” He noted that he “loved” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but disagreed with him, and that Israel had to be careful of shifts in global opinion. He talked about the suffering of Israelis, including women who had been sexually assaulted by Hamas during or after the terror attack of October 7, and spoke about fighting antisemitism.

He mentioned his continued efforts to free the remaining “more than 100” (137) hostages still being held by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

According to CNN, families of American citizens being held hostage had not been invited to the Hanukkah reception at the White House.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.