The United States is standing by Israel and its right to defend itself, from the White House and on through the ranks.
Shortly after 3 am Monday Israel time – and around 8:10 pm Eastern Time, U.S. President Donald Trump hit the Twitter feed to personally make his views known about the hundreds of deadly rocket attacks fired at Israel over the past two days by Gaza’s terrorist organizations. In less than an hour, thousands were already discussing the tweets.
“Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens . . . “ the president wrote.
“. . . To the Gazan people – these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace – it can happen!” he tweeted in the second
….To the Gazan people — these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace – it can happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the first to hit the microphones on Fox News, noting that more than 400 rockets had been fired into Israeli territory from Gaza at that point.
“The Israelis have every right to defend themselves. I’ve seen video that we can’t validate just yet but where there have been strikes on homes, civilian populations. These rockets were fired with civilians around them in order to protect from return fire. This is terrible. The Israelis have every right to protect the sovereignty of their nation, and I hope that we can return to the ceasefire that had been in place for weeks and had been holding significantly before this.”
U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt pointed out in a brief statement on Twitter that the current security situation in southern Israel was precisely the reason for the Trump team’s focus on Israeli security in its upcoming “Deal of the Century.”
“Hamas & PIJ have fired over FIVE HUNDRED rockets @ $Israel, killing 3 Israelis/wounding many. When people ask why we’re focused on Israel’s security in our plan, this is 1 very important reason. Peace can only be built on truth & reality. Many try to pretend this away; we won’t,” Greenblatt wrote.
The Trump administration’s yet-to-be-revealed plan for Middle East peace is slated to be rolled out sometime after the close of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began Sunday night, and which ends on June 5.
Vice President Mike Pence also tweeted the support of the White House, albeit later in the day, writing, “We strongly condemn the attacks in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. Israel has the absolute right to defend itself & the U.S. stands by our great ally Israel.”
Former American UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was – as is her style – much more direct in her tweet, writing, “Imagine if 600 rockets had been fired into the US or any other country besides Israel. What country would not defend itself? Every Presidential candidate needs to weigh in on their thoughts on this attack. Go ahead….we’ll wait.”
From overseas, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman tweeted support as well, adding a copy of a joint statement together with U.S. Special Envoy for Combatting Anti-Semitism Elan Carr, and the U.S. Ambassadors to the EU, France, Germany, Portugal, and Switzerland.
Honored to host a visiting delegation of US ambassadors and US Special Envoy for Combating Anti-Semitism Elan Carr. Please see our joint statement below in support of Israel as the country faces yet another barrage of missile attacks on its citizens. Enough is enough! pic.twitter.com/NYT1Q7wLfW
— David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael)
“Enough is enough!” Friedman wrote.