President Obama referred to the Islamic terrorists who killed several French Jews last month as people who “randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris” in an interview with liberal website Vox.com. In Tuesday’s press briefing, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl asked White House press secretary Josh Earnest to clarify the president’s position on the terrorists’ motivation to attack the kosher supermarket.
“Does the president have any doubt that those terrorists attack that deli because there would be Jews in that deli?” Karl asked.
“It is clear from the terrorists and the writings that they put out afterward what their motivation was,” Earnest responded. “The adverb that the president chose was used to indicate that the individuals who were killed in that terrible, tragic incident were killed not because of who they were but because of where they randomly happened to be.”
Watch the video below:
“These individuals were not targeted by name,” Earnest added.
“Not by name, but by religion, were they not?” Karl asked.
“There were people other than just Jews who were in that deli,” Earnest said.
After Karl asked again if there was any doubt by the president that the shop was attacked because of the likelihood the terrorists would be able to kill Jews, Earnest finally said, “No.”
Update: State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was pressed on this question as well, and she refused to speak about the motive behind the attack.
“Does the administration really believe that the victims of this attack were not singled out because they were of a particular faith?” asks AP reporter Matt Lee.
“Well, as you know, I believe if I remember the victims specifically, they were not all victims of one background or one nationality,” Psaki said.
“Does the administration believe this was an anti-Jewish or an attack on a Jewish community in Paris?” Lee pressed.
“I don’t think we’re going to speak on behalf of French authorities,” Psaki responded. Watch that video, via the Washington Free Beacon, below:
