Joe Biden Is Mad That Palestinian Party Glorified Israel Stabbing
Vice President Joe Biden censured the Palestinian Fatah Party Wednesday for glorifying the man who stabbed a dozen people on Tuesday, killing a U.S. Army veteran.
The party referred to the perpetrator as a "hero" and called him a "martyr" on Twitter Wednesday.
"The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts," Biden said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. "The kind of violence we saw yesterday, the failure to condemn it, the rhetoric that incites that violence, the retribution that it generates, has to stop."
He added that this type of behavior is "just not tolerable in the 21st century."
Netanyahu echoed Biden's sentiment. "This is wrong and this failure to condemn terrorism should be condemned itself by everybody in the international community," he said.
Biden traveled to Israel Tuesday to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He was less than a mile away from the popular Jaffa port area of Tel Aviv, meeting with former Israeli President Shimon Peres, when a Palestinian man stabbed American tourist Taylor Force to death and wounded at least 10 others.
He said Wednesday that his wife and grandchildren also came along and were eating dinner on the beach, close to the attack site.
Biden's meeting with Netanyahu comes at a time of heightened tension in the U.S.-Israeli relationship following the historic nuclear accord with Iran.
The vice president took the opportunity to reaffirm the alliance between the two countries. "It doesn't mean we don't disagree but you never need to doubt that the United States of America has Israel's back ... and we know Israel has our back as well," Biden said.
He dispelled rumors that his trip was intended to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. "I didn't come with a plan. I just came to speak with a friend," he said.
At least three other attacks by Palestinians occurred Tuesday, and the violence continued unabated on Wednesday with two shootings in Jerusalem.
Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans since tensions flared in October. Israeli forces have killed almost 180 Palestinians.
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