On Friday, President Biden held his first Cabinet meeting in nearly a year, with First Lady Jill Biden joining for the first time. The Cabinet had not convened since October 2, 2023. Jill Biden spoke about a White House initiative on women’s health research before the president addressed a question about the rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon.
“We’re continuing to try to do what we’ve been doing from the beginning: ensuring that people in northern Israel and southern Lebanon can return to their homes safely,” Biden said. “The Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and our whole team are working with the intelligence community to make that happen. We’re going to keep at it until it’s done. But we still have a long way to go.”
When asked about the possibility of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Biden responded, “If I ever said ‘it’s not realistic,’ we might as well leave. A lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done. We have to keep at it.”
During the meeting, Biden also emphasized the importance of Congress passing a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.
At the previous Cabinet meeting in October 2023, Biden convened the gathering to discuss pressing priorities, including “the promise and peril of artificial intelligence” and “taking action on gun violence.”
