Israel Praised for Handling Palestinian Violence – Here’s What US Ambassador Said

By United with Israel Staff

Thomas Nides, who serves as US Ambassador to Israel, commented on Tuesday that Israel’s government deserves “a lot of credit” for the way it handled the situation in Jerusalem during the past month.

During this period, Palestinians observed Ramadan, a month during which there is traditionally a sharp uptick in Muslim violence and acts of terrorism directed at Israelis.

“I think things went pretty well,” Nides commented at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council, reported Times of Israel.

Notwithstanding Nides’ remarks, Israel weathered a vicious terror wave during that period in which 16 people lost their lives in deadly attacks launched by Palestinian terrorists.

“Nides said he spent a lot of time in the lead-up to April speaking with Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian leaders about defusing tensions in the capital,” reported the Times.

“We were pretty nervous,” he added, claiming that the focus was kept on maintaining “calm” on the Temple Mount.

Palestinian terror groups frequently falsely claim that Jewish Israelis “storm” the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which Muslims built on top of the Jewish people’s holiest site, the Temple Mount.

In reality, the site is overseen by a Jordanian entity called the Islamic Waqf, which bans all non-Muslim prayer on the site. Jews and Christians who attempt to pray on the Temple Mount are harassed by authorities who strictly enforce the Waqf’s ban on non-Muslim prayer.

In contrast, around 200,000 Muslims attended Eid prayers at the Al-Aqsa compound, which Muslim officials admitted was the highest turnout in years. Palestinians hung a massive banner at the Jewish holy site pledging support to the Hamas terror group, which seeks the destruction of the Jewish state.

Throughout Ramadan, Palestinians rioted and attacked Israeli police at the Damascus Gate.

According to the Times report, Nides expressed gratitude that “the violence did not snowball into an all-out war with the Gaza-ruling Hamas as it did last year, though terrorists in the coastal enclave did fire six rockets toward Israel in April after months of quiet.”