U.S. President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris are seen during an event in Washington. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The U.S. President Joe Biden and presidential candidate Kamala Harris condemned Hamas’s attack on Israel a year ago on Monday (October 7, 2024) while pushing for peace in the Middle East — treading a tightrope on a conflict that could impact next month’s US presidential election.

From candle-lighting to tree-planting, the President and the Vice President will take part in ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the October 7 attacks on key American ally Israel.

Republican Donald Trump, Ms. Harris’s rival in a tooth-and-nail election, was also due to take part in events to mark the anniversary of the surprise attacks by Hamas, in which 1,205 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 251 taken hostage.

But with the Middle East on the verge of all-out war and protests planned at home, the commemorations also underscore Biden and Harris’s apparent powerlessness to influence Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war.

“Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.

MR. Biden lashed out at the “unspeakable brutality” of the attacks and said he and Ms. Harris were “fully committed” to the security of Israel against Iran and its regional allies Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

But he also described October 7 as a “dark day for the Palestinian people” and said he and Harris “will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza.”

Ms. Harris said she was “devastated by the loss and pain of the Israeli people” but added that she was “heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year.”

Both Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris said in their separate statements that a “diplomatic solution” as Israel pounds Lebanon to tackle the Hezbollah militia was the “only path” to a wider peace.

More than 41,909 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The United Nations has acknowledged these figures as reliable.

Candle-lighting

Mr. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were set to take part in a Jewish candle-lighting ceremony with a rabbi at the White House at 11:45 am (1545 GMT).

Ms. Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will separately plant a memorial tree at the vice president’s residence in Washington, then deliver remarks at 4:00 pm (2000 GMT), said her office.

Former President Trump was due to attend October 7 events in New York and Miami.

Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza were expected in New York and several US cities. A man set his arm on fire at a protest outside the White House on Saturday.

The Gaza war has caused political difficulties for Harris and Biden, with Arab and Muslim voters in key swing states and left-wing Democrats strongly opposed to the conflict.

The anniversary meanwhile comes as the Middle East threatens to slide into full-scale war less than a month before the US election, with Israel expected to retaliate imminently for a mass ballistic missile strike by Iran last week.

Mr. Biden has urged Israel not to attack Iran’s oil facilities, fearing it could push up oil prices, in turn hitting the US economy and harming Ms. Harris’s election chances.

Over the last year however Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored Biden’s calls for restraint.

Senior Democrats have questioned whether Mr. Netanyahu is trying to influence the election in favour of fellow right-winger Trump by holding off from any peace deal before the November 5 vote.

Mr. Biden said last week that “whether he’s (Netanyahu’s) trying to influence the election, I don’t know” but chided Mr. Netanyahu, saying that he “should remember” Washington’s strong support for Israel.

Mr. Trump has spoken little about the recent escalation in the Middle East in his campaign, although when he does he has blamed Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris for the crisis.

Last week Mr. Trump said he believes Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, after Mr. Biden advised against such an attack.

File photo of Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday (October 7, 2024) vowed that Israel would pay a price for the “genocide” in Gaza as he marked the first anniversary of the war in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas.

“It should not be forgotten that Israel will sooner or later pay the price for this genocide that it has been carrying out for a year and is still continuing,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

A vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause, including Hamas, Mr. Erdogan has often attacked Israel, branding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” and comparing him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

“Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, Mr. Netanyahu and his murder network will be stopped in the same way,” Mr. Erdogan said.

“A world in which no account is held for the Gaza genocide will never find peace.”

The Turkish leader, who often lauded Hamas as freedom fighters, said what has been massacred before the eyes of the entire world for exactly one year “is actually all of humanity, and all of humanity’s hopes for the future”.

Mr. Erdogan also criticised the international system’s failure to stop the conflict in Gaza and now in Lebanon and said: “Israel’s long-standing policy of genocide, occupation and invasion must now come to an end.”

Washington:

Thousands marched in US cities from Washington to Los Angeles on Saturday, demanding an immediate ceasefire as the war in Gaza nears the one-year mark, with a man attempting to self-immolate in protest.

The marches were part of a worldwide day of action against the devastating war, which has recently seen Israel intensify its military operations in Lebanon.

The war was sparked on October 7 when the Palestinian armed group Hamas attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

More than 41,825 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN has acknowledged the figures as reliable.

In Washington, more than a thousand angry protesters demonstrated outside the White House, with many demanding an end to the US military and other aid to its strategic ally, Israel.

“The US government has really shown what side of history it is on,” Zaid Khatib, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, told AFP. 

“The US government has performed and co-signed the most evil atrocities that we’ve seen of this century.”

Protesters waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags, among others, with many holding up signs and chanting in unison to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Almost two hours into the protest, a man approached the demonstration site and attempted to set himself on fire, AFP journalists saw.

A JOURNALIST set HIMSELF on FIRE outside the White House to protest the media’s LIES about the Gaza GEN0C!DE. pic.twitter.com/duotbSdjOj

— Halima Khan (@khanhalima18) October 6, 2024

He succeeded in lighting his left arm ablaze before bystanders and police rushed to his aid, dousing him with water and extinguishing the flames using their keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves.

“I’m a journalist and we neglect it, we spread the misinformation,” he shouted, in between screams of pain as the fire on his arm was put out.

Police said the man was being treated for “non-life threatening injuries.”

‘Ethnic cleansing’ 

In New York, thousands marched in the city’s famed Times Square neighbourhood, some carrying pictures of people killed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which has left much of the territory in rubble.

Among those marching was Cornel West, a prominent rights activist and an independent candidate running in the US presidential election.

“I’m here to forever be in solidarity with people undergoing a vicious genocide,” he told AFP. “Dealing with ethnic cleansing it’s getting worse, it’s been a whole year now. You know, we got to keep fighting.”

The United States is one of Israel’s closest allies, providing billions in military assistance — a subject that protesters in both cities focused on.

“As an American, we’re tired of our tax money going to Israel to bomb kids in Palestine and then Lebanon,” said Daniel Perez, a New York resident.

Protesters also took to the streets in Los Angeles, many holding signs calling for an end to “genocide” in Gaza.

In Washington, protesters’ cries for “justice” and “peace” reverberated off office buildings downtown, with the crowd animated by a mix of righteous anger and raucous solidarity.

Laila, an American of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, told AFP the past year had left her disillusioned with her country’s leaders — so much so that she was unlikely to vote in November.

“It all disgusts me now,” she said. “It’s all a lie.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)