Obama Calls Parents of Terror Victim Murdered in Israel to Offer Condolences

Correcting his mistake in which he ignored the killing of an American teen abroad, President Obama called the parents of Palestinian terror victim Ezra Schwartz and offered his “profound condolences.”


US President Barack Obama called the family of terror victim Ezra Schwartz on Monday to offer his “profound condolences” after the Massachusetts teen wasmurdered in a Palestinian terror attack in Israel together with another two victims last Thursday.

The president “underscored that Ezra’s studies in Israel strengthened the bonds between Israel and the United States and, as we mourn his death, those bonds only grow stronger,” a senior Obama administration official said regarding the call, the Jerusalem Post reported.

 

Obama, the official continued, “condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack that took his life.”

While a US State Department official swiftly condemned the terror attack that killed Schwartz on November 20, Obama came under fire from members of  the Jewish community for not personally condemning the attack and reaching out to the family sooner.

While on a visit in Israel, Secretary of State John Kerry also condemned the murderous attack.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who were wounded, their families. Regrettably, several Americans have also been killed in the course of these past weeks, and just yesterday I talked to the family of Ezra Schwartz from Massachusetts, a young man who came here out of high school, ready to go to college, excited about his future, and yesterday his family was sitting shiva and I talked to them and heard their feelings, the feelings of any parent for the loss of a child,” Kerry stated during a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

By: JNS and United with Israel Staff

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