Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday night and thanked him for “the American backing for Israel’s right to self-defense.”
Netanyahu said that Israel will “continue to take action to strike at the military capabilities of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.”
The Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terror organizations have launched over 1,500 rockets at Israeli cities and towns in the past few days. The IDF has responded by launching Operation Guardian of the Walls and conducting hundreds of attacks on terror targets in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu also spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and thanked him for “the American support of Israel’s right to self-defense, which the Secretary reiterated during the call.”
According to a readout published by the White House, Blinken “expressed his concerns regarding the barrage of rocket attacks on Israel, his condolences for the lives lost as a result, and the United States’ strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”
The two discussed “the ongoing violence in Jerusalem, and the Secretary reiterated his call on all parties to deescalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence.”
Blinken “emphasized the need for Israelis and Palestinians to be able to live in safety and security, as well as enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy.”
Following the intense missile attacks on Israel by Hamas from Gaza, President Reuven Rivlin held a round of calls with his counterparts around the world to give them a picture of the current situation and to condemn the acts of terrorism.
In the conversations, the president emphasized that “hundreds of thousands of children and their families, most of Israel’s population, are in bomb shelters even now.”
He emphasized that “the rockets do not distinguish between Jews and Arabs,” and that “the high level of compliance by our citizens and the Iron Dome system are what are preventing many more deaths and casualties.”
He underscored that Israel is “absolutely clear that the rocket fire from Gaza is with Iranian involvement,” and that “we are also looking north, to Iran’s northern proxy in our area – Hezbollah.”
Rivlin also stressed that “the world must stand with the State of Israel’s self-evident right and duty to protect its citizens.”
“No country in the world would allow brutal attacks like this and we will also not stand by. We will defend our citizens in every way necessary, and we will not stand by while we are being fired on. We will continue to attack those firing incessantly on our innocent civilians, and we will silence them,” he said.
