The Biden State Department deleted a Saturday post on X that called on Israel for restraint after Hamas launched terrorist attacks across the country, killing more than 600 Jews — many of them civilians.

The post, by the State Department’s U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs, said:

We unequivocally condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists and the loss of life that has incurred. We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed the post, saying, “This is disgraceful and every single person involved in drafting and approving this tweet should be immediately expelled from the U.S. government”:

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) also slammed the post:

@USPalAffairs tweeted out that “all sides” must refrain from violence. We cannot conflate terrorists targeting Israeli civilians and our greatest ally in the region defending itself. Whomever wrote this tweet must be fired and the Biden administration must publicly denounce this shameful tweet. #StandWithIsrael

She said later on Newsmax it was “egregious for the administration to look as if this was both sides”:

This is a clear attack from Hamas, sponsored by Iran, against our greatest ally. This is not about Israel…doing anything aggressive. They need to stand up, and they need to defend their citizens. I’m with Netanyahu 100% on this. The Israelis need to stand strong, and we need to be with them.

…

That tells me that the administration is not standing up for Israel. Their initial response was to condemn both sides, instead of condemning the aggressor here, and not standing up for our democratic, best ally, really shameful on the [part of the] Biden administration. … I really worry that China’s going to make its move on Taiwan at some point, because of the weakness and the failed policies of this Biden administration.

Ellie Cohanim, former U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, posted:

Joe Biden’s State Dept is urging the Jews to just accept being killed — like in the olden days, when Jews were a weak, stateless, victimized diaspora people. Guess what @USPalAffairs: Jews now have a country & an army. They will retaliate!

The State Department deleted the post later that day, with a spokesman telling the Washington Free Beacon that the message “was not approved and does not represent U.S. policy”:

The spokesman added, “The United States condemns the terrorist attack against Israel and unequivocally supports Israel’s right to defend itself, as the President and Secretary have both made clear.”

Len Khodorkovsky, former deputy assistant secretary of state, posted: “Pathetic. This kind of weaselly equivocation only emboldens the terrorists and endangers the civilians”:

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