'As long as U.S. exists, we will be on your side,' Blinken tells Israelis
Blinken: Speaking as a Jew, it's impossible not to sense echoes of the Holocaust in Hamas' slaughter
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken landed in Israel on Thursday and almost immediately vowed that America would always be at Israel’s side to make sure it never had to defend itself alone.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said that while Israel might be able to defend itself on its own, “as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side.”
Blinken arrived in Israel on the 6th day of its war with Hamas, sparked by the terrorist group’s savage attack on towns and communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, from which emerged that it brutally butchered over 1,300 people, mainly civilians, and took scores more as hostages back to the Strip.
The top U.S. diplomat, who is Jewish, said the images from what happened on Saturday had “harrowing echoes” of the Holocaust for Jews everywhere. The Hamas terror rampage, he said, was “a litany of brutality and inhumanity” that brought to kind the worst of ISIS.
Turning to President Joe Biden’s warning Tuesday to other actors in the region not to get involved in the fighting, Blinken echoed the president: “Don’t. The United States has Israel’s back.”
He noted that the U.S. supply of equipment to Israel was already underway.
“We are delivering on our word, Supplying ammunition interceptors to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome, along other defense material. The first shipments of U.S. military support have already arrived in Israel, and more is on the way.”
The administration would work with Congress to ensure that Israel’s upcoming defense needs were met, he promised, noting bipartisan support for Israel’s security was “overwhelming, overwhelming.”
On the subject of Israel’s response to the Hamas atrocities, with an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza expected, Blinken said that while Israel had the right and obligation to defend itself, “how Israel does this matters.”
“We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for different standards even when it is difficult, and holding ourselves to account when we fall short,” he said.
Blinken also called on world leaders not to sit on the fence as regards terrorist attacks on Israel. “There is no excuse, there is no justification for these atrocities. This is, must be, a moment for moral clarity.