Blinken Statement on Terror Attack in Israel Omits 'Palestinian'

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken omitted the word “Palestinian” in expressing condolences to Israel over a terror attack in downtown Tel Aviv on Thursday night that claimed the lives of two young Israelis and wounded several more.

The young Israelis who were murdered in the Palestinian terror attack at a bar in Tel Aviv have been named.

Tomer Morad and Eytam Megini, both 27, were lifelong, childhood friends. Taken too soon and so cruelly by an evil terrorist.

May their memories be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/Gva39T8F5B

— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) April 8, 2022

As Breitbart News reported:

Two people were killed when 28-year-old Raad Hazem from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank began a shooting spree in downtown Tel Aviv on Thursday night.

…

Thursday night is the busiest night of the week for recreational activities in Israel, since the five day work week ends that day. Dizengoff Street, one of Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfares, is lined with bars and restaurants that are packed on a Thursday evening.

The gunman first opened fire outside Ilka, a bar with outside seating. The gunman then left the scene and continued shooting through a side street, narrowly missing another man who had left the bar after the attack began.

The gunman was later shot and killed by police in the neighboring city of Jaffa.

Blinken, who had no trouble condemning what he called “settler violence” in his visit last month to Israel, could not bring himself to identity Palestinian terrorism and its ideology as the cause of the terror attack in Israel in a statement Thursday:

Americans are, once again, grieving with the Israeli people in the wake of another deadly terrorist attack, which took the lives of two innocent victims and wounded many more in Tel Aviv. Our hearts go out to the families and other loved ones of those killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured. We are closely following developments and will continue to be in regular contact with our Israeli partners, with whom we stand resolutely in the face of senseless terrorism and violence.

May the memories of those who passed be a blessing.

U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides also omitted the word “Palestinian” from his public statements:

Horrified to see another cowardly terror attack on innocent civilians, this time in Tel Aviv. Praying for peace, and sending condolences to the victims and their families. This has to stop!

— Ambassador Tom Nides (@USAmbIsrael) April 7, 2022

I spent today working with U.S. Embassy staff based in Tel Aviv. They and this beautiful city remain resilient in the face of terror attacks. Let’s not let the terrorists win! My heart goes out to the many wounded and families of the two murdered civilians. יהא זכרם ברוך pic.twitter.com/1ZeGilIfoe

— Ambassador Tom Nides (@USAmbIsrael) April 8, 2022

The reference to “embassy staff based in Tel Aviv” reflects the fact that some American diplomatic personnel remained in Tel Aviv when the embassy was formally moved to Jerusalem by President Donald Trump in 2018, a move Democrats opposed.

A search for the word “Palestinian” in the U.S. Ambassador’s Twitter account reveals that the last use of the word was in 2020, when Trump’s appointee, David Friedman, was still in the post. He spoke of efforts to help the Palestinians develop their economy but also did not refrain from identifying “Palestinian terrorists” as the perpetrators of attacks against Israelis.

The Biden administration has restored some aid to the Palestinians that was stopped by the Trump administration over concerns that it was being used to fund and promote Palestinian terror. Critics say Biden is ignoring U.S. law barring the transfer of U.S. taxpayer funds to the Palestinians while their leadership pays stipends to terrorists and their families.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.