Blinken assures Israel of support, says civilians must be protected

The U.S. will stand beside Israel as it battles Hamas terrorists whose “litany of brutality and inhumanity” calls to mind the savagery of ISIS, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Standing beside the Israeli leader, Mr. Blinken made reference to his own family history —a stepfather who survived Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz and Dachau and a grandfather who fled the pogroms in Russia.

“I come before you not only as the United States secretary of state but as a Jew,” Mr. Blinken said. “I understand on a personal level the harrowing echoes that Hamas’ massacres carry for every Israeli Jew, indeed for Jews everywhere.”

Mr. Blinken reiterated Washington’s “ironclad support” for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas’ terror attacks. But he also sounded a note of caution for Israel to minimize the threat to civilians as it pursues the Hamas militants who poured over the border from Gaza Saturday, killing at least 1,200 civilians, soldiers and foreign nationals, the deadliest attack on Israel in decades.

“The people of Israel have long and rightly prided themselves on their self-reliance — on their ability to defend themselves even when the odds are stacked against them,” he said. “The message I bring to Israel is this: 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.”

But Mr. Blinken also noted, “The value that we place on human life and human dignity — that’s what makes us who we are. That’s why it’s important to take every possible precaution to prevent harming civilians.”

The Israeli leader said Thursday’s visit of America’s top diplomat was an example of its unequivocal support. Israel has vowed retribution after Hamas fighters stormed through the barrier fence and attacked residents of nearby Israeli villages. Graphic video of atrocities committed by the Hamas forces have inflamed public opinion in Israel and around the world.

Mr. Netanyahu said Hamas’ actions since they breached the barrier on Saturday have shown them to be an “enemy of civilization.”

“They should be spit out from the community of nations. Just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “There will be many difficult days ahead but I have no doubt that the forces of civilization will win.”

The two men met at the Kirya military base in central Tel Aviv that includes the central command of the Israel Defense Forces. The Netanyahu government has called up some 360,000 reservists in anticipation of a military move against Hamas in Gaza.

The Biden administration has stepped up its flow of armaments to Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking to reporters at a NATO meeting in Brussels, said the U.S. was not putting conditions on how Israel uses the American weaponry.

“This is a professional military, led by professional leadership, and we would hope and expect that they would do the right thing in the prosecution of their campaign,” Mr. Austin said.