Israelis awoke early Saturday morning to a horrific sheath of rocket fire from Hamas terrorists, as 5,000 missiles struck Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, killing both soldiers and innocent civilians. Meanwhile, “Hamas terrorists flooded the streets, kidnapping and killing civilians and soldiers,” as we reported.
President Joe Biden swiftly condemned the attack in a statement, calling it an “appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza”:
The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza. [A]nd I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel.
Along with a statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, many world leaders also gave a full-throated condemnation of the attack, which Hamas could not fund on its own, as my colleague Ward Clark reminds us:
The current conflict between democratic Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas is not likely to end as cleanly. Hamas is a stateless entity and, effectively a proxy for Iran, which has poured money and resources into the Palestinian terror organization.
Indeed, and now there is a reaction registered from Iran, according to the Times of Israel and AP reports, as a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the terror attack as “a proud operation”:
“We support the proud operation of Al-Aqsa Flood,” Yahya Rahim Safavi says at a meeting held in support of Palestinian children in Tehran, quoted by ISNA news agency.
“We support this operation, and we are sure that the resistance front also supports this issue,” says Safavi, who is a senior general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Safavi expressed backing for the Palestinian terrorists “until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.”
The report noted that
At a parliament session on Saturday, Iranian lawmakers chanted “Down with Israel,” “Down with America,” and “Welcome Palestine,” according to a video published by Tasnim news agency.
Also quoted was Nasser Kanani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman:
Today’s operation marked a new page in the field of resistance and armed operations against the occupiers.
The resistance has so far achieved brilliant victories during this operation, and this is a bright spot in the history of the Palestinian people’s struggle against the Zionists.
As we wrote earlier on Saturday, the Biden administration is responsible for what is happening to our ally Israel. We’ll keep you in the loop on further developments in this story.
