Lapid at 9/11 ceremony: An attack on the US is an attack on Israel

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid says at a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that Israel will always stand by the United States.

“I want to send a message to the people of the United States and all those who seek to harm them: An attack on America is an attack on us,” Lapid says at the ceremony outside the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, where the American flag was lowered to half-staff. “We share the same values of freedom. Of equality. Of tolerance. And we share the same enemies. America is our greatest friend and ally. An attack on our friends is an attack on us.”

The chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy in Israel, Michael Ratney, also attending the ceremony, says: “We lower the flag remembering the shock and horror of one dreadful morning. And we raise the flag recalling how America and its friends and allies and partners — most definitely including Israel — recovered from that initial shock to deliver a new, concerted, global drive against terrorism.”