President Biden Tries to Empathize With Palestinians Through Irish Catholic Analogy

President Joe Biden might have unwittingly stirred up controversy Friday, while visiting a hospital in Israel.

In a supposed bit of unscripted spontaneity, preceding his prepared remarks, the president compared Irish Catholics living under British rule to the plight of the Palestinian people.

Biden made the analogy at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem, saying, "My background and the background of my family is Irish-American, and we have a long history of — not fundamentally unlike the Palestinian people with Great Britain and their attitude toward Irish Catholics over the years, for 400 years."