Biden says maimed American Hersh Goldberg-Polin is ‘here with us today’ at Rose Garden party — despite still being held by Hamas

Steven Nelson

WASHINGTON — President Biden was forced to correct himself afteryet another brutal gaffeMonday evening, when he told attendees at a White House Jewish heritage celebration that maimed US citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin was “here with us today” — when in fact he remains a hostage in the Gaza Strip.

“My administration is working around the clock to free the remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already. =•And here with us today is Hersh Goldberg-Polin,”== Biden, 81, announced at the Rose Garden party.

A moment later, the president added, “He is not here with us. But he is still being held by Hamas.”

Goldberg-Polin, a dual Israeli citizen, is among the five known Americans still held by Hamas terrorists after being kidnapped from southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The 23-year-old abductee had one of his hands amputated following his abduction as a result of injuries suffered during the attacks that killed about 1,200 people, including at least 33 Americans.

He was featured last month in a Hamas propaganda video.

Other US citizens still believed to be held by Hamas include Tenafly, NJ, native Edan Alexander, 20, and former New York City resident Omer Neutra, 22, both of whom were serving in the Israeli military at the time of the surprise attack.

Father of three Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who moved from Connecticut to Israel as a child, and Keith Siegel, 65, who moved to Israel in 1980, also remain missing after being kidnapped near the Gaza border.

It is unknown how many of the American hostages remain alive.

The Rose Garden event was attended by both first son Hunter Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garlanddays before the younger Biden faces a pair of June trials for alleged tax fraud and gun crimes — even though their prior joint attendance at a state dinner last year drew negative scrutiny.

Biden hosted the outdoor event, which featured a couple hundred guests and drink stations on the side of the iconic garden, hours after International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan officially sought an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.

Biden slammed the action,but mistakenly referred to the ICC as the “International Court of Justice,” a different institution also based in the The Hague, Netherlands.

“Let me be clear: We reject the ICC’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders,” Biden said.

The president added, “Contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what’s happening is not genocide – we reject that. And we’ll always stand with Israel.”

(The debates will be cancelled soon)

https://nypost.com/2024/05/20/us-news/biden-says-maimed-american-held-by-hamas-is-here-with-us-today-at-rose-garden-party/

20 May, 2024 18:26

Zelensky a ‘legitimate military target’ – Medvedev

The Ukrainian leader, whose term in office expires this week, has been deemed a “war criminal” by Russia, former President Dmitry Medvedev has said

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, as the leader of a “hostile political regime,” is a legitimate military target, Dmitry Medvedev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, has said.

Speaking to TASS on Monday, Medvedev said that the question of Zelensky’s legitimacy as president is of no particular importance to Moscow.

“For Russia, thefinal loss of legitimacy by the pseudo-president of the former Ukraine will not change anything,” the former Russian president said, noting that the leaders of countries waging war are “always considered”a legitimate military target.

Medvedev called Zelensky a “war criminal,”who should be caught and brought to justiceor “liquidated as a terrorist” for his crimes against Russians and Ukrainians.

Zelensky appeared on the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list earlier this month though no data has been released about criminal proceedings against him.

The constitutional powers of the current Ukrainian president expired on May 20. A presidential election was originally scheduled for March, but was postponed under the pretext of martial law, which was imposed after the start of the conflict with Russia in February 2022, and has repeatedly been extended by the nation’s legislature.

Zelensky announced in December 2023 that no presidential or parliamentary elections would be held as long as martial law remains in force. In early May, lawmakers prolonged martial law by another three months.

According to Medvedev,Zelensky “effectively seized power” in the country after elections were annulled.

“He spat on the constitution of his ‘country,’ ignored the Constitutional Court, anddid not even extend, but usurped the supreme power,”Medvedev argued, adding that Zelensky “covered himself with an inarticulate declaration of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) on the abolition of presidential elections in times of war.”

In March, Ukrainskaya Pravda claimed, citing members of parliament, thatZelensky had virtually stripped the legislature of its powersand established de facto personal rule.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said recently that a “moment will come soon when many people, including those inside Ukraine, will question [President Zelensky’s] legitimacy.”

https://www.rt.com/news/597938-zelensky-legitimate-military-target-medvedev/