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Washington: American citizen Adrienne Neta was sitting on her porch in Israel’s kibbutz Be’eri on Saturday morning when Hamas militants barged into her home.
The 66-year-old grandmother managed to call two of her adult children, who heard her speaking to her intruders in Arabic as she tried to de-escalate the unfolding horror.
Suddenly, the telephone went silent. They have not been able to contact her since.
Nahal Neta, son of Adrienne Neta, 66, holds a photo of the nurse living in Kibbitz Be’eri missing since a Hamas surprise attack on the Gaza borderCredit: AP
About three hours away in the Negev Desert, American-Israeli Hersh Golberg-Polin was at the Supernova music festival when he was taken hostage by terrorists, who had arrived in trucks and motorcycles to massacre revellers.
The 23-year-old and others initially took cover in a bomb shelter while grenades and bullets rained down around them, blowing off Goldberg-Polin’s arm from its elbow and forcing him to fashion a tourniquet to save his own life. He, too, remains unaccounted for.
These are among the American men and women who Joe Biden has vowed would be his “top priority” to find, as he condemned the “pure unadulterated evil” carried out by Hamas over the weekend.
Buildings damaged and destroyed by Israeli airstrikesCredit: Getty
“This is terrorism,” Biden declared in a speech on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).
But four days after Hamas launched its surprise cross-border assault, the US president is under growing pressure to do more as the American death toll rose to 14, multiple US citizens remain missing or taken as hostages, and tensions over the conflict erupt into protests between Israelis and Palestinians across US cities.
Speaking from the state dining room at the White House, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden likened Hamas to the Islamic militant group ISIS. He said the US would deploy experts to help with hostage recovery efforts.
Citing the “stomach churning reports of babies being killed” and “women raped, assaulted and paraded as trophies,” he also vowed to continue to support Israel as it prepares for a complete siege of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the weekend incursion.
US President Joe Biden, center, speaks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, and Vice President Kamala Harris in the State Dining Room of the White House.Credit: AP
“Sadly for the Jewish people it’s not new,” Biden said. “This attack has brought to the surface painful memories and scars left by a millennia of anti-Semitism and genocide against the Jewish people. So in this moment, we must be crystal clear: we stand with Israel.”
The president did not ask Israel to exercise restraint during his speech, which came soon after he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the third time since Saturday’s attack began.
Instead, he said the US would continue to provide the military support it needs to ensure it does not run out of infrastructure to defend itself.
This included surging equipment to replenish the Iron Dome missile defence system, which allows Israel to detect and shoot down incoming projectiles, and repositioning ships and aircraft in the region to act as a deterrent.
Biden also confirmed that the death toll among Americans had now risen to 14 – up from 11 yesterday – and that some US citizens had been taken as hostages.
As such, he said he had directed his team to share intelligence and deploy additional US government experts to help Israel’s hostage recovery efforts.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also travel to Israel this week to show US support after Hamas attacks.
“As President, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world,” Biden said.
Biden’s comments came as Israel continued to pummel Gaza with airstrikes on Tuesday, saying its military had regained control over border towns, while Hamas threatened to kill a hostage every time Israel strikes the strip without warning.
Israeli soldiers take cover as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza strip.Credit: AP
However, back in Washington, the president has come under growing attack by those who believe he has been too weak on Iran, which is a known backer of Hamas.
In particular, the administration has been criticised over its recent decision to unfreeze $US6 billion ($9.3 billion) in frozen Iranian funds in exchange for the freedom of five wrongfully detained American citizens.
Supporters of Israel and Palestine gather at the Israeli consulate in New York on Monday.Credit: AP
“Missing from President Biden’s speech is, first, any sense of what America will do to avenge the savage murders of our citizens and, second, the word ‘Iran’,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a former military officer.
“It is our responsibility, not Israel’s, to avenge those deaths. And the refusal to even warn Iran by name will only embolden the ayatollahs.”
Some are also concerned how long the goodwill towards Israel will last, despite Biden’s claims of “rock solid” support.
A Gallup poll released in March found that Democrats’ sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, 49 per cent versus 38 per cent.
Some progressive Democrats, such as congresswoman Cori Bush, have struck a much different tone to the president, saying in a statement that “violation of human rights do not justify more violations of human rights and a military response will only exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also deleted a tweet he’d posted on Sunday urging a “ceasefire”, while the State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs deleted a tweet urging “all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks.”
And across the US, authorities are now monitoring domestic threats in connection with the Hamas attack on Israel and security has been ramped up at Jewish centres as protests erupted over the conflict.
But at home and abroad, Israeli-Americans are urging the Biden administration to do more.
“They’re responsible to bring the US citizens back home safe and sound,” said Nehar Neta, the son of missing 66-year-old Adrienne Neta.
“We expect nothing less from the US administration: from President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken.”
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