During a meeting between President Joe Biden and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, the Palestinian Authority’s honor guard welcomed Biden with a poor rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
“Just the Palestinian Authority’s honor guard completely butchering the American National Anthem…” tweeted Kassy Dillon, the U.S. Bureau News Editor for Jewish News Syndicate.
The brutal performance elicited mockery and criticism on Twitter, with some even suggesting that the Palestinian orchestra played poorly on purpose.
Christopher Bedford, senior editor at The Federalist, was among those who accused the honor guard of intentionally butchering the Star Spangled Banner.
“These guys know how to play,” he tweeted. “This is intentional.”
Another Twitter user Hoyt1313 echoed Bedford’s theory, writing, “This was intentional. These musicians are on tempo, and clearly know the tune. There is no way that they would only mess up the pitch of their notes. It isn’t possible that this many of their musicians are only bad at pitch. There would be some bad at keeping time & others tune.”
Minnesota congressional candidate Jeremy Munson tweeted, “Butchering the national anthem like it’s a Monty Python skit.”
Newsmax national correspondent Logan Ratick said the brutal rendition of the U.S. National Anthem was not surprising.
“What’s expected from people that want ‘Death to America,'” he tweeted.
Omri Ceren, an advisor to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, tweeted, “There was a super insidery debate this week – and by “debate” I mean people betting each other rounds of drinks – about whether the Palestinians would fly in competent players from Jordan or try to do this on their own. Asked and answered.”
Ben Shapiro, founder of the Daily Wire, quipped, “So apparently they recruited the Horace Mann Elementary School fourth grade band.”
“Can’t wait for their rendition of Titanic,” he added in a separate tweet.
“This version perfectly encapsulates the Biden presidency,” a Twitter user called TheRightWingM posted.
During his visit, President Biden drew scorn for comparing the struggle between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in what many saw as a subtle attack against two steadfast U.S. allies, Israel and the United Kingdom.
“My background — the background of my family is Irish American,” Biden said during remarks at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem. “And we have a long history not fundamentally unlike the Palestinian people, with Great Britain and their attitude toward Irish Catholics over the years, for 400 years.”
