Joe Biden Is Mad That Palestinian Party Glorified Israel Stabbing | HuffPost - Action News
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Posted: 2016-03-09T15:33:44Z | Updated: 2017-01-04T22:35:37Z Joe Biden Is Mad That Palestinian Party Glorified Israel Stabbing | HuffPost

Joe Biden Is Mad That Palestinian Party Glorified Israel Stabbing

The failure to condemn violence of any kind "has to stop," he said Wednesday during his visit to Israel.
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Vice President Joe Biden censured the Palestinian Fatah Party Wednesday for glorifying the man who stabbed a dozen people on Tuesday, killing a U.S. Army veteran .

The party referred to the perpetrator as a "hero " and called him a "martyr " on Twitter Wednesday.

"The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts," Biden said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. "The kind of violence we saw yesterday, the failure to condemn it, the rhetoric that incites that violence, the retribution that it generates, has to stop."

He added that this type of behavior is "just not tolerable  in the 21st century."

Netanyahu echoed Biden's sentiment. "This is wrong and this failure to condemn terrorism should be condemned itself by everybody in the international community," he said.

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Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans since tensions flared again in October of last year. Israeli forces have killed almost 180 Palestinians.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Biden traveled to Israel Tuesday to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders . He was less than a mile away from the popular Jaffa port area of Tel Aviv, meeting with former Israeli President Shimon Peres, when a Palestinian man stabbed American tourist  Taylor Force to death and wounded at least 10 others. 

He said Wednesday that his wife and grandchildren  also came along and were eating dinner on the beach, close to the attack site.

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Two different shootings rocked Jerusalem on Wednesday, one day after a stabbing incident killed an American tourist and U.S. Army veteran.
AHMAD GHARABLI via Getty Images

Biden's meeting with Netanyahu comes at a time of heightened tension in the U.S.-Israeli relationship following the historic nuclear accord with Iran.

The vice president took the opportunity to reaffirm the alliance between the two countries. "It doesn't mean we don't disagree but you never need to doubt that the United States of America has Israel's back  ... and we know Israel has our back as well," Biden said.

He dispelled rumors that his trip was intended to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. "I didn't come with a plan . I just came to speak with a friend," he said.

At least three other attacks  by Palestinians occurred Tuesday, and the violence continued unabated on Wednesday with two shootings  in Jerusalem.

Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans since tensions flared in October. Israeli forces have killed almost 180 Palestinians.

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