Bennett schmoozes, Biden snoozes, mainstream media disabuses
The mainstream media went to extraordinary lengths to convince their readers that President Biden (pictured below) had not fallen asleep during his White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on 27 August.
Typical of their efforts was USA Today:
“Our rating: False
We rate the claim that Biden fell asleep during a meeting with Bennett FALSE, because it is not supported by our research. A widely-shared video is misleadingly clipped to make it appear as if Biden was sleeping as Bennett spoke. The full video shows Biden looked up and responded just seconds after the clip ends.”
Reuters Fact Checking team concluded:
“VERDICT
Misleading. A clip saying Joe Biden fell asleep while in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been misleadingly cropped. Longer versions show Biden continues the conversation right after this moment.”
AP Fact-Checking also chimed in:
“AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. News coverage of the meeting shows that Biden was awake and engaged during the meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.”
Their claims that a video of the meeting was “misleadingly clipped” or “misleadingly cropped” are fanciful – as the following transcript of what actually happened indicates.
Bennett had already been addressing Biden for almost six minutes at this starting point – when Biden suddenly nodded off during Bennett’s remarks underlined :
“And one last word, Mr. President — I’ll take this off [Bennett’s face mask – ed.] for this part, if I may: You’re a man of faith, as am I. In the synagogues across the world, we read a biblical portion, beyond the Parsha; it’s called the Haftarah.
And tomorrow, we’re going to be reading words of the prophet Isaiah — Yeshaʿyahu. In Hebrew, the words are: (Recites verse of Isaiah in Hebrew.)
What this means — I can saying anything now. Right? (Laughter.) What this means is: The sons and daughters of the Jewish people are going to come back to our land, are going to nurse our ancient land and rebuild it.
And this ancient Jewish prophecy is today’s Israel reality. And it’s a miracle that you’ve been so central and so part of it for so many years.
So, Mr. President, today, you and I — and you’ve been so generous with your time in these difficult days — you and I are going to write yet another chapter in the beautiful story of the friendship between our two nations: The United States of America and the Jewish and democratic State of Israel — both of us who seek to do good and need to be strong, both of us who are a lighthouse in a very, very stormy world.
Thank you, Mr. President. I look forward to working with you now and for many years forward. Thank you.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, thank you. And you give me credit, much of which should go to Barack Obama, for making sure that we committed to a qualitative edge you would have relative to your friends [should Biden have said “enemies” ?– ed] in the region. So, he’s the one that deserves the credit.
PRIME MINISTER BENNETT: Thank him as well.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you very much, folks.”
Important as Bennett thought it necessary to convey this amazing history of the Jewish people to Biden – using Jewish liturgical terms like “Parsha” and “Haftarah” and quoting a Biblical passage in Hebrew (text below) were understandably lost on Biden – who then dozed off for 30 seconds.
The mainstream media’s continuing honeymoon with Biden had clearly clouded its judgement.
In so doing – the mainstream media was exposed once again for its biased reporting on Biden – undermining its integrity and trumpeted independence.
Beware the mainstream media when reporting Biden news.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.
