The White House has admitted that President Joe Biden‘s claim he visited the Tree of Life in the wake of the 2018 massacre that killed 11 congregants is not true after the synagogue revealed he called rather than visited in person.
Biden had told more than a thousand Jewish leaders during a virtual event to celebrate the start of the Jewish High Holidays on Thursday that he had visited the Tree of Life synagogue after the mass shooting.
‘I remember spending time at the – you know, going to the – you know, the Tree of Life Synagogue, speaking with the – just – it just is amazing these things are happening – happening in America,’ Biden, 78, said.
But the White House said in statement to the New York Post on Friday that Biden’s comment ‘was referring to a call he had with the Tree of Life rabbi in 2019.’
The statement from the White House comes after the synagogue’s leaders had revealed that Biden did not appear at Tree of Life in person in the aftermath of the deadly shooting spree.
Barb Feige, executive director of Tree of Life, told the outlet that, ‘no,’ Biden has never visited the synagogue – either before or after his inauguration as president.
Tree of Life rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers told the New York Post that Biden had called him on his cell phone nearly a year after the massacre.
‘President Biden kindly called me on my cell phone as I was sitting in Dulles Airport awaiting a return flight to Pittsburgh after I testified before Congress in July 2019,’ Myers told the outlet.
‘In a heartfelt way, he extended his condolences and asked how we were doing. We spoke about the challenges of antisemitism, and he made clear he would confront it with us as president.’
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SOURCE: Daily Mail, Elizabeth Elkind
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