U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Thursday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli citizens. Blinken vowed American support to Israel as its military pulverized the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with airstrikes and prepared for a possible ground invasion.
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00:00 Mr. Prime Minister, I'm grateful to be back in Israel in this incredibly difficult moment
00:15 for this nation, but in fact for the entire world.
00:22 If you'll permit me, personal aside, I come before you not only as the United States Secretary
00:31 of State, but also as a Jew.
00:36 My grandfather, Maurice Blinken, fled pogroms in Russia.
00:42 My stepfather, Samuel Pizar, survived concentration camps, Auschwitz, Dachau, Majdanek.
00:55 So Prime Minister, I understand on a personal level the harrowing echoes that Hamas's massacres
01:02 carry for Israeli Jews, indeed for Jews everywhere.
01:09 People of Israel have long and rightly prided themselves on their self-reliance, on their
01:14 ability to defend themselves, even when the odds are stacked against them.
01:20 The message that I bring to Israel is this.
01:23 You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you
01:29 will never, ever have to.
01:32 We will always be there by your side.
01:36 That's the message that President Biden delivered to the prime minister from the moment this
01:42 crisis began.
01:44 It's the message that I and my other colleagues in the government have delivered to our Israeli
01:48 counterparts on a daily, even an hourly basis.
01:53 It's the message that I bring with me to our discussions today, and it's what I'll affirm
01:58 when I meet with the members of Israel's newly formed National Emergency Government.
02:03 We welcome the government's creation and the unity and resolve that it reflects across
02:08 Israel's society.
02:11 We're delivering on our word, supplying ammunition, interceptors to replenish Israel's Iron Dome,
02:18 alongside other defense material.
02:20 First shipments of U.S. military support have already arrived in Israel, and more is on
02:26 the way.
02:28 As Israel's defense needs evolve, we will work with Congress to make sure that they're
02:32 ready for that.
02:33 And I can tell you, there is overwhelming, overwhelming bipartisan support in our Congress
02:38 for Israel's security.