Israel is currently experiencing the greatest amount of violence it has seen in years, but President Barack Obama waited through three long days of terror before reaching out to the Middle Eastern nation.
After three days of fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a phone call from Obama Thursday evening. During the phone call, Obama reiterated the White House’s strong support of Israel and told Netanyahu that the United States is willing to help negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which has been launching hundreds of rockets a day into Israel.
The White House stated that Obama condemned the rockets, stating that Israel has its right to self-defense. The American president also encouraged both Israel and Palestine to not to further elevate the crisis and to restore peace in the region.
“The president reiterated the United States’ strong condemnation of continuing rocket fire into Israel by Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against these attacks,” the White House said in a statement describing the call.
The two leaders also discussed concerns regarding the Palestinian-American teenager who was detained and beaten by Israeli authorities, but Obama said that Israel did, in fact, work to ameliorate the situation. The attack was during Palestinian protests of a suspected revenge killing by Israeli citizens, responding to Hamas members’ suspected killing of three Israeli teens, including an American citizen.
When they discussed Iran, Obama told Netanyahu that they United States would only accept a deal that ensures a peaceful nuclear program.