Biden administration official urged Abbas to condemn Bnei Brak attack

A Biden administration official reached out to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s office shortly after last night’s terror attack in Bnei Brak, urging him to issue a condemnation, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel, confirming a Channel 12 report.

Abbas also received a “stern message” from Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s office with a similar message that also made clear that a failure to speak out jeopardized planned Israeli measures to ease Palestinian freedom of movement during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, two officials told The Times of Israel yesterday.

The PA leader issued a statement an hour later, “express[ing] his condemnation of the killing of Israeli civilians… [and] emphasizing that the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only leads the situation to deteriorate.”