One of the strongest voices inside the White House calling for an end to civilian casualties in Gaza is the person closest to the president: Jill Biden.
At a meeting with members of the Muslim community at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, one guest told President Biden that his wife did not approve of his coming to the meeting because of Mr. Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
Mr. Biden replied that he understood. The first lady, he said, urged him to “Stop it, stop it now,” according to a bystander who overheard his comments.
Salima Suswell, the founder of the Black Muslim Leadership Council, recounted the scene in an interview, adding that she had marked the president’s remarks because it was so striking to hear that the first lady felt the conflict so strongly.
“He said he said, ‘Stop it, stop it now, Joe,'” Ms. Shaswell said.
Asked about the president’s remarks, White House officials said Wednesday that there was no daylight between Mr. Biden and the first lady about the conflict and that the president was as outraged by the civilian casualties as his wife. The officials said the first lady was not asking Israel to end its efforts against Hamas.
“Just like the president, the first lady is devastated by the attacks on aid workers and the continued loss of innocent life in Gaza,” Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, said in a statement. Both want Israel to do more to protect civilians.”
The first lady isn’t alone in urging her husband to keep going. Some of Mr. Biden’s closest allies, including Senator Chris Coons, D-Delaware, have pressed the president to do more to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza and end the war, including by supporting limits on military aid to the Israelis.
Mr. Biden has faced growing alarm among other Democrats over his support for the war, as well as letters of internal dissent, including objections from officials in about 40 government agencies.
But the first lady occupies the most influential position in Mr. Biden’s inner circle and is one of the few people who offers him an unbiased opinion on politics and policy.
Dr. Biden has opposed American involvement in overseas conflicts in the past, in part because Beau Biden, Mr. Biden’s oldest son, enlisted in the Delaware Army National Guard in 2003 and deployed to Iraq in 2008. She supported her husband decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, despite the deadly, chaotic effort that followed.
“I think she trusts my intuition as a wife,” she told The New York Times in a 2021 interview, “not as a political figure or a consultant.”
One attendee at a White House event in the winter of 2022 was surprised by the first lady’s emotional response to someone praising President George W. Bush’s legacy: “He sent my son to war,” Dr. Biden angrily responded. to Beau, whom she had raised from childhood. “He sent my son to war.”
The conflict in Gaza is different. US troops are not on the ground, but Mr Biden’s staunch support for Israel over the past six months has put him at odds with a majority of Americans who now oppose Israel’s campaign in Gaza, according to a recent poll. Some Democratic voters in battleground states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, are warning the president they will withdraw their support if he continues to side with Israel.
On Tuesday, Mr Biden’s remarks to the group came as he released a statement saying he was outraged by the deaths of seven aid workers at the World Central Kitchen who were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Monday night. However, so far there is no indication that the first lady’s private exhortations have prompted the president to change his policy toward Israel.
Mr. Biden is scheduled to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, according to a senior administration official. That official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Biden’s anger and frustration had peaked in recent weeks.
Mr. Biden’s staunch support for Israel has made it harder for the first lady to do the kind of campaigning she did during decades of marriage. Like her husband, Dr. Biden has been interrupted at several campaign events by people protesting American involvement in the conflict.
In Arizona in March, a Women for Biden event featuring Dr. Biden was interrupted by protesters who demanded to know why the Bidens were advocating “genocide” in Gaza.
At other events that month, in Wisconsin and Vermont, people gathered outside Democratic Party offices and donors’ homes to protest American support for the war. A keynote speech on March 23 that Dr. Biden delivered to a Human Rights Campaign Dinner in Los Angeles was interrupted by a group of people who jumped out of their seats and started chanting “cease fire now”.
At that event, the first lady remained silent as protesters were cleared from the hall amid chants of “four more years” from supporters. After they left, she continued her speech.
