Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Israel and meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, urging calm with Palestine amid rising violence in recent weeks.
The United States official on Monday spoke with Netanyahu of an enduring bond between their two countries despite a deepening conflict that puts that unity under pressure. Blinken, during his remarks, pleaded with Israelis and Palestinians to stop a long-running cycle of retribution.
Antony Blinken's Israel Visit
The American official's request comes after months of elevated violence that exploded recently with a bloody Israeli military raid conducted in the West Bank and terrorist attacks within Jerusalem that left more than 20 people dead.
Furthermore, Israel has been facing mass protests as roughly 100,000 demonstrators attended in Tel Aviv on Saturday. People of the nation who oppose a re-elected Netanyahu and his objective of gaining more political control over the country's judiciary have joined the protests.
The situation warns of a potential right-wing threat to Israel's democratic foundations, something the Biden administration is also concerned about. Last month, the new Israeli coalition was formed and was viewed as the most right-wing and religious in the country's history, as per the New York Times.
Blinken nodded to the disagreements during his one-on-one talk with the Israeli prime minister after expressing the United States "steadfast support" for Israel. The American official reiterated his country's support for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. It is a goal now seen as more distant than ever under Netanyahu's governance.
The Israeli prime minister's current coalition government was established with the support of ultranationalist figures with hard-line positions toward Palestinian rights. They also encouraged increased Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
The US secretary of state also spoke about the importance of "core democratic principles and institutions." It was an apparent reference to the proposed judicial changes of the Netanyahu coalition. He also reminded the prime minister of the value of governing by consensus.
Rising Violence in Palestine
Blinken's visit to Israel, which has been in the works for the past few weeks, came as both Palestinians and Israelis suffered bloodshed in recent days, resulting in fears that the situation could go out of control, according to CNN.
On Thursday, the deadliest day for Palestinians in the last two years was observed in the occupied West Bank. That incident was followed by a shooting near a Jerusalem synagogue on Friday night, which Israeli officials considered one of its worst terror attacks in past years.
Blinken's visit to Israel was expected to be controversial because it was the secretary of state's first visit to the country since Netanyahu's re-election. The American official now carries the burden of trying to cool rising tensions between Israel and Palestine.
However, despite the secretary of state's visit and urging for calm between Israel and Palestine, he did not offer any solution to calm the violence. Furthermore, it was not immediately clear from his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu if the Biden administration would propose any such ideas, said the Associated Press.