Biden on War in the Middle East: ‘We’re Working Like Hell with the French and Many Others to (Inaudible)’

As I type this, the nation of Israel is under attack by Iran, with more than 400 ballistic missiles launched towards the Jewish state, and all Israeli civilians ordered to bomb shelters.

Here are President Biden’s most recent off-the-cuff verbal comments about the Middle East, delivered before getting on Air Force One, at 2:38 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday:

Q    Mr. President, will you deploy more U.S. troops to the Middle East?

THE PRESIDENT:  No.

Q    Mr. President, has Netanyahu gone too far?

Q    Any comment on the strikes in Yemen, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT:  Spoke with both sides at the outset of the strike.  We support the collective bargaining effort.  I think they’ll settle the strike.

Q    Are you going to talk to Netanyahu?  Are you going to talk to Prime Minister Netanyahu?  Do you have any- — anything to say to him?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.  I will be talking to him, and I’ll tell you what I say to him when I talk to him…

Biden took a few questions on other topics, and then:

Q: Can all-out — can an all-out war in the Middle East be avoided?

THE PRESIDENT:  It has to be.  We — we really have to avoid it.

We’ve already taken precautions relative to our embassies and personnel who want to leave, and — but we’re not there yet, but we’re working like hell with the French and many others to (inaudible).

Thank you.

Q    Thank you, sir.

On the first point, Biden mishears a question about strikes in Yemen and thinks it is about the dockworkers’ strike. Then Biden says he’s working like hell with the French to do something . . . inaudible.

This is a genuine crisis, and the president cannot communicate.