The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) today issued the following statement after yesterday’s terrorist attack in the Jaffa port area, where a Palestinian Arab murdered Taylor Force, an American graduate student visiting Israel who was a U.S. army veteran, and wounded nearly a dozen others, including the slain American’s wife and a pregnant woman. At the time of the stabbing attack, Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with former Israeli President Shimon Peres not far from the scene of the carnage.

“The National Council of Israel extends its heartfelt condolences to the family of Taylor Force, an American graduate student who sadly became the latest U.S. citizen to lose his life during a deadly terrorist attack perpetrated by Palestinian Arabs in Israel.

“We extend our deepest appreciation to Vice President Biden for his swift and unequivocal condemnation of yesterday’s terrorist attacks, and are grateful for his declaration that ‘there can be no justification for this violence’ and that ‘the U.S. stands firmly behind Israel’s right to defend itself’ against deadly acts of terror.

“Aside from the Vice President’s denunciation of the attacks, it appears that the rest of the international community has become immune to the daily loss of Israeli life and the terror that has permeated every corner of the Jewish State, as evidenced by the world’s deafening silence in the wake of the ongoing outbreak of violence. Turning a blind eye to terror is antithetical to the tenets of a civilized society and cannot be deemed acceptable.

“The fact that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whose words and deeds encourage these attacks, says nothing while his Fatah colleagues praise Taylor Force’s senseless murder and call his killer a Palestinian martyr is repugnant. As Vice President Biden said, ‘this cannot be viewed by civilized leaders as an appropriate way to behave…it is just not tolerable in the 21st century.’ Abbas needs to stand up and take concrete steps to curb the incitement and end the cycle of violence aimed at innocent men, women and children instead of praising the terrorists. The time for inaction and indifference is over. It is time that the Palestinian Authority faces serious economic consequences for its actions after its repeated failure to halt the murder and mayhem aimed at Israel. The United States needs to send an immediate and tangible message through the ending of aid to the Palestinian Authority that there are consequences for their actions.”

For the past 104 years, the National Council of Young Israel has ably served the broader Jewish community. With more than 25,000 member families and approximately 150 branch synagogues throughout the United States, Canada, and Israel, the National Council of Young Israel is a multi-faceted organization that embraces Jewish communal needs and often takes a leading role in tackling the important issues that face the Jewish community in North America and Israel.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR