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Israel condemns killing of US envoy in Libya, extends condolences to the US
Israel denounced the killing on Wednesday of the US ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff by armed attackers.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, extended his condolences to the US over the deaths of the four members of its diplomatic mission in Benghazi. ‘Israel stands beside the American people in their grief,’ he said. ‘We send our condolences to the families. If there’s any people in the world that understands what Americans are going through, what they went through in 9/11, it’s the people of Israel, who’ve been standing at the forefront of the battle against terrorism, who’ve lost loved ones and who deeply, deeply sympathize with the people of America at this time.’
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Liberman condemned the attacks on the US diplomatic mission in Libya and Egypt and noted that these types of attacks are aimed not just at the US but the entire democratic world. Liberman added that, ‘the State of Israel shares in the grief of the American people on the tragic deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and the other embassy staff.’ And that ‘Israel stands by the United States in the fight for the free world and against terrorism.’
Israel’s President, Shimon Peres, in a letter of condolence to US President Barack Obama, said he was ‘deeply shocked’ by the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi and offered Israel’s ‘heartfelt condolences’.
Yesterday, President Obama vowed in a White House address that the US would ‘work with the Libyan government to bring to justice’ those who killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Stevens, a 52-year-old career diplomat, was killed when he and a group of US employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as the building came under attack by a mob wielding guns and rocket propelled grenades, in what officials now believe may have been a planned terrorist attack. The storming of the US Consulate on Tuesday was sparked by the release of an anti-Islamic film, with the identity of the film’s director still unknown.