Israel mobilizes along its border with Gaza as Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv

The Gravest Day for Jewish Communities since the Israel Attack and the Holocaust: President Biden addressing the Jewish community in the U.S.

President Biden pledged to ensure the safe release of hostages at a meeting with Jewish groups at the White House on Wednesday.

Biden said the United States is sending experts to advise and assist with hostage recovery efforts. He also said he directed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland to work to boost security and address threats to the Jewish community in America.

“You worry about kids being targeted at school, going about their daily lives, hurt by the downplaying of Hamas’ atrocities, and blaming Israel. “This is unacceptable,” Biden said.

The White House is not following specific targeted violence against Jews in the United States since the attack on Israel by Hamas, according to John Kirby.

A meeting included officials from more than 20 different Jewish organizations, including top Biden aides, such as national security adviser Jake Sullivan. It was led by Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Harris. Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of any U.S. president or vice president.

In his remarks, Biden spoke about the need to speak out against the horrific violence of the attack. “I think it’s the gravest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” Biden said.

He said that he did not think he would see pictures of terrorists beheading children. It was unclear whether Biden had seen pictures. A national security council official told reporters that Biden was referring to reports from Israel. NPR has not independently verified the reports.

“We witnessed a mass murder of innocent civilians,” Emhoff told the group of Jewish leaders, pounding his fist on the lectern. It was a terrorist attack. There is no justification for terrorism. There are no two sides to this issue. ” The images that we saw will stay in our heads forever,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration released its national strategy to counter antisemitism, which included plans to improve safety and security for Jewish communities and to increase awareness about antisemitism.

Later Thursday, Blinken will travel to Amman to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah. Blinken will then meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman on Friday. There, Blinken will urge Abbas to condemn the violence. Such a declaration would put Abbas in a difficult position, but Blinken will tell the Palestinian leader that it is important to distinguish himself from Hamas, an organization that the U.S. and Israel have declared a terrorist organization. A senior U.S. official said Palestinian Authority officials have privately told U.S. leaders that they are horrified at the violence against Israeli civilians.

The diplomatic push comes as Israel and Gaza experience the most dramatic escalations in violence in recent memory, with concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries across the Middle East.

Blinken also will try to secure the freedom of hostages kidnapped by Hamas from last weekend’s incursion into Israel. 150 people are being held hostage by Hamas, including an unknown number of Americans.

On Thursday, the Israeli state broadcaster KAN announced that 1,300 Israelis are known to have been killed by the Hamas attacks. The number of Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli forces since the weekend has now reached 1,200, according to officials in Gaza, with more than half those killed women and children. Gaza officials said another 51 Palestinians were killed overnight.

Gaza’s borders are closed, leaving Palestinian civilians without a place to go to escape or seek safety. There are 2.3 million people in Gaza, and one-tenth of them are internally displaced. Many have sought shelter in the U.N. schools.

The blockade was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Hamas militant group took control of Gaza. Since Tuesday, Egypt has not been sending in aid through its border with Gaza because of the Israeli bombing of the Gaza side of the crossing.

The funerals were held in Israel for people who died in Saturday’s attack by militants from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades and Israeli Air Strikes: A Case Study in the 1967 Gaza Reaction

Hamas is expected to try to use the hostages in bargaining to free some of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but the group insists it will not negotiate while Gaza is under attack.

Hamas’ military wing, Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, threatened to execute a civilian hostage every time civilians in Gaza die in their homes from Israeli airstrikes that come without warning. No such publicly known execution has yet been carried out.