Chapter 19
We were spending a rare weekend at the White House rather than in Delaware.
Prior to Joe serving as vice president, we had never lived in Washington, so we took advantage of the proximity to our home and spent most weekends there, where we could be close to family.
But this weekend, we were in DC because Joe was being interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding classified documents.
The issue arose when Joe’s West Wing office was packed up at the end of the Obama administration.
A harried aide had packed a dozen boxes without noticing that there were classified documents in among the personal letters, speeches, and photographs.
Hur would come to decide that no criminal charges against Joe were warranted.
That week was filled with sadness and mourning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the terrorist attack by declaring, “We are at war.” No one quite knew what that would mean at the time—how many people would die, how many countries would become embroiled—but we knew Netanyahu would seek to remove Hamas from power to keep Israel safe.
America’s support for Israel was clear. There was outrage and condemnation of the attack.
Joe wanted to stand with the people of Israel.
He flew to meet Netanyahu in solidarity.
But weeks turned into months. The Palestinian death toll rose.
The images of starving children and cities turned to rubble were causing people of conscience around the world to ask when it would ever stop.
Pope Francis reached out to Joe to discuss the war, especially the release of hostages and the importance of protecting civilians.
During the call, Joe asked the pope to pray for him.
Francis asked Joe to pray for him, too. This was not the first time they’d spoken—they’d met in person several times, including two years earlier—but it might have been the most powerful of their conversations.
Francis kept repeating to Joe: “You are a man of peace.”
As Second Lady, I’d borne witness to drought and famine, as at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, and I’d visited crisis regions as the board chair of Save the Children from 2017 to 2019.
I’d been impressed by the relief work of the great chef and humanitarian José Andrés, who in 2010 started World Central Kitchen, getting food to where it was needed most. He has said, “The dishes we cook and deliver are not just ingredients, or calories. A plate of food is a plate of hope. A message that someone, somewhere, cares for you.”
Again, I feel that we need to look for and celebrate those who bring aid and care into situations that feel dire and hopeless. José Andrés is such a man.
On April 2, 2024, before going to teach, I was putting on makeup with the morning news on in the background when I heard that seven of José’s aid workers on a mission of peace were killed by Israeli bombs. I felt devastated.
For weeks, I had been begging Joe to do anything he could to pursue a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Of course I was aware that there was so much I didn’t know.
Much of what Joe was seeing was classified.
But when Israeli forces killed the World Central Kitchen workers, I felt like I had to say something.
I usually woke up before Joe, so I saw before he did the horrors he’d have to confront.
That morning, seeing yet another day of devastation in Gaza, I left a Post-it note for Joe on the mirror above his sink before I left to teach so he would see it when he got up: “WCK aid workers killed (1 Amer). Net has to stop.”
Well, this was a private note between us, but at a meeting that morning, Joe read it out loud.
I was on my lunch break at NOVA when I got a call saying that a Katie Rogers story about my note would be appearing in The New York Times.
My aides wanted to know: Was this true? What exactly did I say?
I was initially angry at the aides, thinking they were chastising me.
What a lesson in the price of speaking up!
Ten words on a Post-it urging peace and I was in trouble?
My press secretary said no, she just needed to know what to say to Rogers about it.
Yes, I had written it, I told them. The article came out with the headline, “ ‘Stop It Now’: Jill Biden Privately Urges an End to Conflict in Gaza.” The next morning, I left another note knowing Joe was going to be talking to Netanyahu: “Be strong. Don’t let BN use your goodness.”
That time I added that he should please keep the note between us.