US ‘stands firmly and resolutely with Israel’ in face of terror, Biden tells Bennett

The American president condemned the terrorism and extolled the importance of ‘regional partnerships’ exemplified by the Abraham Accords.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

U.S. President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Naftali Bennett Wednesday to express his condolences over the recent spate of terror attacks and to offer his country’s support.

The president expressed “his deepest condolences following the horrific terrorist attacks that have killed 11 people in three Israeli cities,” said a statement from the White House.

More than a dozen victims were injured as well.

Offering “all appropriate assistance to our Israeli allies as they confront threats to their citizens,” Biden also “emphasized that the United States stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats to the State of Israel.”

The president’s call came a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken “strongly condemned” the attacks, saying, ”This violence is unacceptable,” and that “Israelis—like all people around the world—should be able to live in peace and without fear.”

No specific mention was made in either statement as to the identities of the terrorists who, over the period of eight days, executed shooting and stabbing attacks in Beersheba, Hadera and Bnei Brak. The first two were carried out by Arab-Israelis affiliated with ISIS, while the third was perpetrated by an Arab who hailed from the Palestinian Authority.

Bennett and Biden also “discussed the importance of regional partnerships, as exemplified by the Abraham Accords and the Negev Summit, in promoting security and improving the lives of people across the Middle East,” the White House statement added.

The foreign ministers of Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE — three of the four Arab countries that signed normalization agreements with Israel in the last two years, known as the Abraham Accords — held a two-day summit in the Negev early this week in southern Israel with senior Israeli, Egyptian and American diplomats. Although the Gulf States and Israel were focused on the Iranian threat and their opposition to a renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Arab representatives publicly condemned the terror attack in Beersheba, which had taken place the previous Thursday.

The PA, however, came out strongly against the summit, saying it was a “cover up” for “preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state,” although Ramallah was careful not to condemn the Arab ministers outright.

“The prime minister thanked President Biden for siding with the people of Israel in the face of the terrorist attacks experienced by its citizens in recent days and for expressing his condolences, on behalf of the US administration, to the grieving families,” Bennett’s office stated.