It’s shocking that so many people appear to have forgotten the brutality of the Hamas October 7 attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, as he argued that Israel has an undisputed right to defend itself.

“It is striking and in some ways shocking that the brutality of the slaughter has receded so quickly in the memories of so many,” Blinken said.
He spoke during a one day visit to Israel, close to one month since the start of the Gaza War which was sparked by the Hamas killing of over 1,400 people and its seizure of over 240 captives.
“Thirty-five Americans were murdered that day as well, and more than 200 foreign nationals from 35 countries,” Blinken said as he pointed to the global impact of the event.

Blinken's fourth visit to the Middle East since October 7th

He recalled that this was his fourth visit to Israel since the start of the war and that US President Joe Biden had also made a solidarity trip.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he disembarks from an aircraft during his visit to Israel, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel November 3, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST/POOL)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he disembarks from an aircraft during his visit to Israel, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel November 3, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST/POOL)

Biden had clarified that “as the United States stands, Israel will never stand alone,” Blinken recalled.
Blinken reiterated this point in the meeting that he held, including with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.  The US supports “Israel’s right to defend itself, indeed its obligation to defend itself,” Blinken told reporters later in the afternoon.
“This right to self-defense, indeed this obligation to self-defense, belongs to every nation.  No country could or should tolerate the slaughter of innocents, ” Blinken said.
While in Tel Aviv, he was shown additional video footage of the brutality with which Hamas had treated its victims, which he said, remained “almost beyond the human capacity to process, to digest.”
Blinken recalled the video showing how a Hamas terrorist threw a grenade into a backyard shelter where a father and his two small sons were hiding. The terrorist then killed the father as he came out wounded and while the small boys screamed for their father, the terrorist "casually opens the refrigerator and starts to eat from it,” Blinken said.
“That’s what we’re dealing with,” he added.