Benjamin Netanyahu's phone conversation with Joe Biden
(Video: Omer Miron, GPO)
An hour after the unprecedented statement of support from US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the unusual step of releasing a transcript of part of the conversation he had with Biden - in which he described the atrocities committed by Hamas during its surprise attack on Israel.
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"We were struck Saturday by an attack whose savagery we have not seen since the Holocaust," Netanyahu told the US president. "They're even worse than ISIS and we need to treat them as such."
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After his phone conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden offered full-throated support for Israel in statement
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI)
In Netanyahu's conversation with Biden, the third since the outbreak of the war, he thanks the US president "for his unequivocal support and made it clear that a powerful and prolonged campaign – which Israel will win – will be necessary," according to the readout.
"Mr. President, Joe, I want to thank you for you continued and unequivocal support and the work of your entire administration to support us. The Israeli people were deeply moved by the emotion that Admiral Kirby showed in his interview yesterday. It was deeply moving, and it represented the depth of commitment that you have, your administration has and the American people have for Israel," Netanyahu said, referring to a clip of a CNN interview in which White House spokesman John Kirby began crying when talking about the horrific Hamas attack.
"Joe, I want to give you a clear picture of the difficult situation we face: We were struck Saturday by an attack whose savagery we have not seen since the Holocaust. We've had hundreds massacred, families wiped out in their beds in their homes, women brutally raped and murdered, over 100 kidnapped, including children," Netanyahu said.
John Kirby cries during interview about Hamas attack
(Video: CNN )
Netanyahu told Biden that "since we last spoke, the extent of this evil, it's only gotten worse. They took dozens of children, bound them up, burned them and executed them. They beheaded soldiers. They mowed down these youngsters who came to a music festival and just put five jeeps around a depression in the soil, and like Babi Yar, they mowed them down, making sure that they killed everybody."
He concluded: "We've never seen such savagery in the history of the State. They're even worse than ISIS and we need to treat them as such."