President Joe Biden's age and ability have been a target for the commander-in-chief's critics, who believe he no longer has the capability to competently serve the American people.
Often nicknamed "Sleepy Joe" by Donald Trump and others, the president has been caught making verbal and physical gaffes such as confusing his words and walking offstage in the wrong direction.
Now, after he was filmed speaking with Israel's president Isaac Herzog at the White House on Tuesday, some claimed that Biden actually fell asleep during the course of the meeting.
The Claim
A tweet by political commentator Monica Crowley, assistant secretary of the Treasury from 2019 to 2021, posted on July 18, 2023, and viewed 574,000 times, suggested that Joe Biden had fallen asleep during his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The tweet included a video of Biden, sitting down, looking down, and talking.
Crowley wrote: "Corrupt, senile hack mumbles his way into a nap while sitting with a foreign head of state."
The Facts
The meeting between Biden and Herzog this week came as tensions mounted over the hard-right Israeli government's proposed judicial system reforms and plans to expand settlements in the West Bank as well as over the increasing violence with Palestinians.
The appearance by Herzog—who serves in a largely symbolic role—was clouded by recent strife in Israel, marked by concerns among democracy advocates over the nation's sharp rightward shift since Netanyahu returned to power in December 2022.
In the context of the U.S.'s future relationship with Israel, there would have been little patience for a Biden gaffe or slip-up to distract attention from this talk.
However, the video that was shared by Crowley was edited to help create the impression that Joe Biden had fallen asleep during the conversation with Herzog.
The clip was from a moment when Biden tried to find his words as he discussed previous negotiations. These included a maritime boundary dispute between Israel and Lebanon, opening airspace for Israel over Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. bringing "Israelis and Palestinians together at the political level."
There are a few seconds where Biden tries to find his words and speaks quietly. Although difficult to hear, it sounds like he mentions Aqaba, a city in Jordan where earlier this year Israeli and Palestinian officials met with representatives from the United States and Egypt.
According to a report by the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, the meeting was the first of its kind in a decade, aimed at resolving tensions and violence in the West Bank.
Another few words are mentioned but it's not clear from the audio what he said. Newsweek has contacted the White House to clarify.
The clip on Twitter shared by Crowley then cuts out. In the full video, Biden continues by talking about recent communication with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about America's "firm" commitment to Israel; at this point, Biden's gaze returns to Herzog.
Clearly, the clip's editing, Biden's quietened voice, his pose, and Crowley's accompanying tweet strengthened the claim that the president had taken "a nap." The full video, however, shows this is obviously not true.
The men continued to talk for a few more minutes after this, Herzog offering "a greeting of gratitude from the entire nation of Israel."
Israel has been engulfed by protests for months over a planned overhaul of the judicial system that would weaken the power and independence of the country's Supreme Court. Netanyahu's nationalist-religious ruling coalition proposed the changes earlier this year.
Israeli lawmakers this week are voting on the first of several bills overhauling the judiciary. The legislation is opposed by the Biden administration and some members of Congress.
"If carried out to their fullest extent, these changes could fundamentally alter the democratic character of the State of Israel," Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York and other congressional lawmakers wrote in a letter to Israeli leaders in March.
The Ruling
Misleading Material.
The clip is cut from a longer discussion between Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Joe Biden held on Tuesday at the White House.
In the edited clip, Biden doesn't speak very clearly, pauses to find the right words and looks away from Herzog, which is used to argue that he had taken "a nap."
However, as the full video of the exchange shows, that is simply not the case. Biden had paused as he listed a number of U.S.-backed talks and negotiations, then his gaze returned to meet Herzog's seconds later and the discussion continued.
FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK
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