‘Israel has the right to defend itself and its people, full stop,’ President Biden said.
WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke from the White House about the terrorist attacks in Israel.
“Today the people of Israel are under attack orchestrated by a terrorist organization, Hamas. In this moment of tragedy, I want to say to them and to the world and to terrorists everywhere that the United States stands with Israel,” President Biden said.
“Israel has the right to defend itself and its people, full stop,” he added.
President Biden also promised that the United States would provide all the assistance that Israelis need so that they could continue to defend themselves.
Israel declared a state of war on Saturday after Hamas, the Iran-backed terror group, began an unprecedented, unprovoked surprise attack on Israel, launching thousands of rockets into Israeli cities starting at 6:30 a.m. In addition, terrorists breached Israeli borders and began targeting homes, killing and kidnapping civilians. More than 200 Israelis have been killed, and over 1,000 are critically injured, according to reports.
President Biden said that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and conveyed that the United States “stands with the people of Israel in the face of these terrorist assaults.”
He also warned that this is not the time for any anti-Israeli country to take advantage of the attacks. “The world is watching.”
He didn’t respond when asked if there was an intelligence failure in the lead-up to the attack.
Earlier, former President Donald Trump in a statement blamed President Biden for the attacks.
“These Hamas attacks are a disgrace and Israel has every right to defend itself with overwhelming force. Sadly, American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks,” he wrote in a statement. “We brought so much peace to the Middle East through the Abraham Accords, only to see Biden whittle it away at a far more rapid pace than anyone thought possible.”
Hamas is among the terrorist groups receiving support from Iran. According to a U.S. State Department report in 2020, Iran had provided up to $100 million annually in total support to these groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
By Emel Akan
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