"In this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack," President Joe Biden stated in the aftermath of an unprecedented terror attack against Israel on October 7.
When Hamas terrorists in Gaza punched across the heavily defended Israeli border seemingly with ease and proceeded to murder over 1,000 Israelis including soldiers, unarmed civilians, women, and children.
Less than a week later, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
Soon after the attack, the U.S. sent the USS Gerald R. Foord carrier strike group into the Eastern Mediterranean and began delivering munitions. In the days since, the Pentagon has ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to join the Ford, as well as three U.S. Marine warships. Aircraft has also been dispatched to U.S. bases in the region and Austin has ordered about 2,000 U.S. forces to be prepared to deploy if needed in the coming days and weeks.
Less than two weeks after the attack, President Joe Biden arrived in Israel to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister in Tel Aviv, in part to send a message of solidarity to the Israeli people on Wednesday.
"This thing has to be a mess," former Secret Service agent Bill Gage told Connecting Vets, speaking from the standpoint of presidential security. "One of the most violent places in the world, with some of the most violent actors," he explained, saying that this is a far different scenario from Biden's visit to Ukraine where there were clear front lines and the Russian government would never be so reckless as to attack an American president.
In the past, Israel placed security restrictions on the Secret Service that made their jobs much more difficult. For instance, they were not allowed to bring their own weapons into the country so they had to rely on using embassy-issued weapons. According to Gage, many of these restrictions have been lifted due to the unprecedented security challenges.
"During my trips to Israel as the advance, one of the issues was access control. The Israelis do not have a great system to decide who is who and who is allowed into secure sites. The USSS [U.S. Secret Service] has a very robust access control system with redundancy."
Also looming in the background of Biden's visit is the issue of potentially a dozen or more U.S. citizens are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. During the terror attack on Oct. 7 nearly 200 hostages were taken, including the American citizens.