White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest scrambled Tuesday to defend and later clarify presidential remarks that touched off a firestorm this week, saying that the White House believes last month’s terrorist attack at a Paris supermarket was motivated by anti-Semitism.
“Our view has not changed. Terror attack at Paris Kosher market was motivated by anti-Semitism,” Earnest said via Twitter, hours after reporters quizzed him about Obama’s remarks this week. “POTUS didn't intend to suggest otherwise.”
Administration critics pounced on Obama's remarks in an interview published Monday on Vox to accuse the administration of downplaying the threat of terrorism posed by Islamic extremists.
In the interview, Obama agreed with the reporter that the news media overhypes terrorist attacks, compared to other threats like climate change and disease.
“It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you've got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris,” Obama said.
Earnest said earlier that Obama was making the point that the individuals were not specifically targeted in the January attack: “These were individuals who happened to randomly be in this deli and were shot while they were there.”
The four victims of the attack on the kosher supermarket were buried on a hillside in Israel last month after a ceremony in which Israeli leaders urged their counterparts abroad to confront Islamist extremism and safeguard Jews in Europe.
The remarks comes as Obama prepares to request authorization from Congress to strike Islamic State terrorists and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said the administration is muddying the waters, citing a Reuters report that the attacker had called into a French television station to declare allegiance to Islamic State (ISIL) and stated an intention to target Jews.
“The stakes are way too high to operate under anything but a clear understanding of the significant challenges that our country faces,” Moran said on the Senate floor. “It makes no sense to describe something different than reality."