US President Joe Biden criticized his rival Donald Trump in the election year, criticizing his immaturity.
Speaking at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night, the 81-year-old responded to concerns that he is too old for a second presidential term.
“Yes, age is an issue — I’m a grown man running against a six-year-old,” he said, referring to his 77-year-old Republican opponent.
But in a more serious moment, the president told the assembled reporters: “Honestly, I’m not asking you to take sides.
“I’m asking you to face the seriousness of the moment.
“Get past the horse racing numbers, the sticky moments and distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics, and focus on what’s really at stake.”
Biden did not acknowledge the hundreds of protesters who were outside the event, calling for an end to US support for Israel.
Previously, he had arrived at the scene through the back entrance, avoiding most of the protesters.
Outside the main entrance, some shouted “Shame!”, running after the well-dressed attendees as they rushed inside for dinner.
Some shouted accusations that American journalists were not paying enough attention to the war and were misrepresenting it, shouting: “Western media, we see you and all the horrors you hide.”
They were not alone – more than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their US-based colleagues to boycott the dinner.
The letter said: “The price charged to us for simply fulfilling our journalistic duties is staggering.
“We are subject to detention, interrogation and torture by the Israeli military – all for a ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”
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Israel declared war on Hamas and launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza in response to the attack on southern Israel on October 7, when Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took another 250 hostages.
More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has been conducting almost daily attacks as it prepares for a possible offensive on the city.
More than 34,000 Palestinians were killed during the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
In early April, Reporters Without Borders stated that more than 105 journalists had been killed in the area since October 7, with at least 22 of them killed in the course of their work.
The protests outside the correspondents’ dinner come as a protest movement spreads across U.S. universities — a growing uprising within a demographic that Biden will need to defeat Trump.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
