Obama Administration Backtracks on Paris Terror Attacks

JERUSALEM, Israel -- President Obama and his spokesman backtracked on inferences that last month's attack at a kosher supermarket in Paris was not motivated by anti-Semitism.
 
"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 in an interview with Vox, which aired Monday, the Times of Israel reported.
 
It was a rather odd comment, especially since the killer, who held 15 people hostage after gunning down four Jews at the market, told police that was his motivation.
 
White House spokesman Josh Earnest and State Department spokeswoman Jan Psaki responded vaguely to questions at separate press conferences.
 
Earnest said the president meant the Jewish victims weren't killed because of who they were but because they "randomly happened to be there."
 
"There were people other than just Jews who were in that deli," Earnest told reporters.
 
Psaki responded similarly later that day.
 
Asked if the administration believed "this was an anti-Jewish attack on a Jewish community in Paris?" she said, "I don't think we're going to speak on behalf of French authorities and what they believe was the situation."
 
Both spokespersons "clarified" their responses on Twitter.
 
"We have always been clear that the attack on the kosher grocery store was an anti-Semitic attack that took the lives of innocent people," Psaki tweeted.
 
"Our view has not changed," Earnest said on Twitter. "Terror attack at Parks Kosher market was motivated by anti-Semitism. POTUS [president of the United States] didn't intend to suggest otherwise."