Joe Biden’s campaign for the Democratic party presidential nomination received a huge boost with his big win in the South Carolina primary. Biden has a long history of support for Israel. At the 2013 AIPAC conference, Joe Biden spoke of his love for Israel and described the moment years earlier when he first realized that Israel mattered to him. As a child in 1948, he sat at his dinner table listening to his father speak about the debate over the establishment of a Jewish state, and it greatly impacted him. How did he describe what his father told him?
Sen. Joe Biden at Kewpee Burger by Beth Rankin is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
A. “It was at that table I first heard the phrase that is overused sometimes today, but in a sense not used meaningfully enough...the phrase, ‘Never again.’ It was at that table that I learned that the only way to ensure that it could never happen again was the establishment and the existence of a secure, Jewish state of Israel.”
B. “It was at that table I first heard the phrase that says so much in only three words ‘Am Yisrael Chai,’ the people of Israel live, the nation of Israel lives. It was at that table that I learned that the only way to ensure that the Jewish people, the people of Israel, would continue to live was the establishment and the existence of a secure, Jewish state of Israel.”
C. “It was at that table I first heard the strange word ‘sabra,’ used to describe Israeli people, that they were like the prickly pear–tough on the outside but sweet and delicate on the inside. It was at that table that I learned that the only way to ensure that these unique and special people, these sabras, could continue to thrive was through the establishment and existence of a secure, Jewish state of Israel.”
D. “It was at that table I first heard the word ‘Hatikva,’ the beautiful anthem of the Jewish people, which meant ‘the Hope.’ It was at that table that I learned that the only way to ensure that the hope of Israel to survive and thrive after the horror of the Holocaust was the establishment and the existence of a secure, Jewish state of Israel.”
E. “It was at that table I first heard the word that is used by so many Jews today, the word ‘Bamba,’ that incredible snack that was in a basket on the table. Now my father was talking about Israel, why there should be a Jewish state or something. But I don’t really know what the heck he was talking about because I was just focused on this amazing Israeli peanut butter-flavored crunchy snack. Now, as a politician, I’m used to eating just about anything. Corn dogs, deep-fried Oreos, bacon balls, and smoked raccoon. And being just a regular guy, I love it all. But it was at that table, when I first ate Bamba, that I learned that the only way to ensure that I could keep eating that heavenly food was with the establishment and existence of a secure, Jewish state of Israel.”