pjmedia.com
As someone who has written official statements on behalf of leaders for over a decade, I can tell you that it is more than fair to say the White House Comms Shop dropped the ball in response to the violent and viral attacks on Israel.
A standard statement protocol should take under an hour, start to finish; seasoned professionals with a firm understanding of the situation and process can get it done in 30 minutes. The White House did not issue a statement until 11:08 a.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 7 — 12 hours after the Israeli Defense Forces Twitter account let the world know the county was under attack, and 10 hours after there was no doubt there would be hundreds of casualties.
Israelis across the country—on Shabbat and the holiday of Simchat Torah—woke up to sirens sounding and Hamas firing rockets at them from Gaza this morning.
We will defend ourselves. pic.twitter.com/S9GN8fld4Y
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 7, 2023
Sure, Jerusalem is seven hours ahead of Washington, D.C., so while Israelis were waking up to rocket fire, political staffers were deep in their cups on a Friday night. If you’ve not seen Union Pub at midnight on Friday, just imagine a frat party where everyone is wearing disheveled suits…
