Biden's remark linking India Middle East Corridor to Hamas attack "Misunderstood", White House clarifies

The India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor project was announced in September during the G20 Summit hosted by New Delhi.

New Delhi: A day after US President Joe Biden said that the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor project (IMEEC) launched during G20 in September, is one of the reasons why Palestinian militant outfit Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on Israel on October 7, the White House on Friday said that the US President was misunderstood.

In response to a question on the matter, the White House spokesperson John Kirby said, "I think you misunderstood him. What he said was that he believed that the normalisation process and the agreement that we were trying to reach between Israel and Saudi Arabia for normalisation, which we believe is an important stepping stone to getting to a two-state solution, was what may have motivated Hamas to conduct those attacks."

US President Biden on Thursday said, "I am convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can’t leave that work behind."

Notably, the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor project was announced in September during the G20 Summit hosted by New Delhi. The IMEC will comprise an Eastern Corridor connecting India to the Gulf region and a Northern Corridor connecting the Gulf region to Europe. It will include a railway and ship-rail transit network and road transport routes.