Biden criticizes Palestinians for not condemning attack

JERUSALEM — Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticized Palestinians for a “failure to condemn” a stabbing spree that killed an American student and war veteran the day before, after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ political party posted a statement online praising the attacker.

Biden said his wife and grandchildren were having dinner on the beach not far from the scene of the attack, which wounded a dozen Israelis, civilians and police officers.

Abbas’ Fatah party posted a cartoon on its Twitter account of a hand holding a knife over a map of Israel and the Palestinian territories, and calling the Palestinian stabber from Tuesday’s attack a “hero” and “martyr.”

“This is the result so long as Israel does not believe in the two-state solution and ending its occupation,” the Fatah statement on Twitter read, referring to a future Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Israel says it is fueled by a campaign of Palestinian incitement compounded on social media sites that glorify and encourage attacks.