‘As long as US exists, we’ll be by Israel’s side,’ Blinken tells PM

Israel can protect itself alone, but it doesn’t have to – because America has its back, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a one-day solidarity visit.

“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself – but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side,” Blinken said.

He spoke in the aftermath of Saturday’s grizzly Hamas assault on southern Israel, in which more than 1,300 civilians and soldiers were slaughtered and over 100 others were taken hostage. At least 27 Americans are among the dead, and others are missing or believed to be held captive.

While in Israel, Blinken met with American family members of those unaccounted for.

The United States was among a number of countries that rushed to support Israel, with top leaders from Germany, France and the United Kingdom also taking action and expressing support for Israel’s military campaign to uproot Hamas from Gaza.

Support from around the world

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly visited Israel on Wednesday and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is due to arrive on Friday. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala suggested that his country should relocate its embassy to Jerusalem as a strong sign of solidarity.

In Israel, Blinken affirmed US financial assistance and military support, which has included ammunition, Iron Dome interceptors, and the placement of the country’s largest carrier fleet in the eastern Mediterranean, with a second one heading in that direction.

Great Britain has also pledged military assistance. The military package, which includes P8 surveillance planes, other surveillance assets, two auxiliary ships, three Merlin helicopters, and a company of Royal Marines will be on standby in the region to provide “practical support to Israel... and offer deterrence and assurance,” Downing Street said.

The flurry of diplomatic activity has focused on attempts to release the hostages, halting a multi-front war, ensuring Israel can defeat Hamas and creating a humanitarian corridor through Egypt for Palestinians in Gaza to escape the fighting.

From Israel, Blinken plans to travel to Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt to enlist regional support, particularly with respect to pressing Hamas to free the captives.

In Israel, Blinken warned Israel’s enemies not to take action. The US reaffirms “the crystal-clear warning that President [Joe] Biden issued yesterday to any adversary – state or non-state – thinking of taking advantage of the current crisis to attack Israel:  Don’t. The United States has Israel’s back,” he stated.

In Washington on Wednesday night, Biden clarified that the message was also intended for Iran. Hamas has long been supported by Tehran, but neither the US or Israel has proof that it was directly involved in the surprise attack.

“We’re pursuing intensive diplomacy throughout the region to prevent the conflict from spreading – and I’ll be doing that over the course of my trip in the coming days,” Blinken said.

Blinken was in Israel as gruesome details continued to unfold about Hamas’s massacre of entire families, burned people alive, raped, and in some cases decapitated its victims, including babies. A shaken Blinken said the Israeli government has shared pictures and videos of the killings.

“It is beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less actually see, and God forbid experience,” Blinken said.

There was “a baby, an infant riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded, young people burned alive in their cars or in hideaway rooms. I could go on, but it is simply depravity in the worst imaginable way.

“It almost defies comprehension. It hearkens back to ISIS, when it was on its rampage and was thankfully stopped,” he said. “This a moment for moral clarity, this a moment that everyone needs to make clear that there is revulsion, disgust, and determination not to allow this to go forward,” he said, as he called for global condemnation of Hamas.

“Too often in the past, leaders have equivocated in the face of terrorist attacks against Israel and its people. That’s why we’ve been adamant with all countries in the wake of these attacks:  There is no excuse, there is no justification for these atrocities.

He compared the Hamas assault to the September 11th Al Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers, in which 3,000 Americans were killed. With Israel’s nearly 10 million population, this assault, he said, is the equivalent, of ten such attacks -- or some 25,000 Americans murdered.

“The failure to unambiguously condemn terrorism puts at risk not only people in Israel, but people everywhere,” he continued. “Look at what just happened.  Individuals from 36 countries killed or missing in the aftermath of Hamas’s attacks.  Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas – no region has escaped Hamas’s bloody reach.

“Anyone who wants peace and justice must condemn Hamas’s reign of terror,” Blinken said.

He clarified that Hamas did not represent the Palestinian people “or their legitimate aspirations to live with equal measures of security, freedom, justice, opportunity, and dignity.  Hamas has only one agenda: to destroy Israel and to murder Jews.

“No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens – or simply return to the conditions that allowed it to take place.  Israel has the right – indeed, the obligation – to defend itself and to ensure that this never happens again,” he said, cautioning that this must be done within the confines of international law.

Blinken also met with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and President Isaac Herzog, as well as Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who is now a minister in Netanyahu’s government.

Earlier in the day, President Isaac Herzog said that Israel must have license to destroy Hamas. “Humanity has to decide: Are we fighting terrorism or accommodating terrorism. There can be no mercy for terrorists.”

Reuters contributed to this report.