Despite 41-year high inflation that many critics attribute in large part to vast spending from the Biden administration, President Joe Biden announced that he’ll ask Congress to fund $100 million for healthcare services for a hospital network that serves the Palestinian population.
During his visit to the Middle East, Biden visited the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem Friday morning, where he spoke of the essentials of life — first lady Jill Biden has visited the hospital twice before.
“Palestinians and Israelis deserve equal measure of freedom, security, prosperity and dignity and access to healthcare, when you need it, is essential to living a life of dignity for all of us,” the president said, according to the Daily Mail.
“The U.S. will continue to work with the Palestinian leadership and the government of Israel and all our international partners to ensure that East Jerusalem’s hospital network remains sustainable and available, and is able to provide high-quality care the Palestinian people deserve,” Biden added.
U.S President Biden in his visit to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem pledges financial support to lift the hospital out of debt #BideninIsrael pic.twitter.com/rTEHPuZl23
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) July 15, 2022
Hospital Network Secretary General Dr. Fadi Atrash, who is also the Augusta Victoria Hospital CEO, said the president’s effort was “bringing hope to thousands of Palestinians.”
“We Palestinians are same like Americans,” Atrash said, according to the British newspaper. “We have our own dream that we want to achieve. And for this, we need hope, justice, freedom and support from friends like you in America and all over the world.”
Jerusalem: President Joe Biden has announced $100 million in U.S. assistance for east Jerusalem hospitals that serve as “the backbone” of health care for Palestinians. He spoke Friday during a visit to the Augusta Victoria Hospital, which provides advanced medical care, including pic.twitter.com/QmAeI1jlof
— Deccan News (@Deccan_Cable) July 15, 2022
During the visit to the hospital, Biden not only brought up his son Beau, who died of brain cancer that the president attributes to his son’s service in Iraq, but also spoke of his first wife and daughter, who were killed in a 1972 automobile accident, while praising nurses.
“My wife and daughter were killed and my boys were trapped in a vehicle for three hours when a tractor-trailer hit them — the doctor saved their lives, but the nurses made them want to live,” he said.
He then commented on his own health issues with double aneurysms.
“I joked the reason they went in twice to take the top of my head off is they couldn’t find a brain the first time,” Biden said, before mentioning Beau.
“He should be the man talking to you as president, not me,” he told those gathered.
Watch: Activists send Balloons with a Palestinian flag in A-Tur #eastjerusalem during Biden’s visit to Augusta Victoria hospital pic.twitter.com/jDmyjlTCHx
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) July 15, 2022
Turning his attention to the the Palestinian healthcare system, the president announced the $100 million commitment.
“Working together, it is my prayer the United States will both relieve the hospital’s burden of debt, and support targeted infrastructure updates and key reforms in patient care, to ensure long-term financial stability,” he said.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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