Israel needs to make its successes against Hamas and Hezbollah permanent, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told attendees at an Oct. 7 memorial at the Israeli embassy in Washington on Monday.
“The challenge going forward is to turn tactical wins in battle into a strategy that secures Israel’s people and its future,” Sullivan said. “That takes real discipline. It takes courage. It takes foresight to match the conduct of war to a clear and sustainable set of objectives and to turn tactical advantage into enduring strategic gains.”
Sullivan noted that the yahrzeit candle-lighting ceremony with President Joe Biden at the White House earlier that day might have been the first time that the Jewish prayer of mourning, El Malei Rachamim (“God full of mercy”), was recited at the presidential residence.
Speaking during a nearly hour-long event, which included members of the Washington diplomatic corps and the families of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, Sullivan said that the attacks have united Israel and the United States.
“The thousands of miles between Washington and Israel do not feel so distant today,” he said. “In the days that followed Oct. 7, our defense, intelligence and national security teams were in constant touch.”
“At President Biden’s direction, we moved military assets into the region, including carrier strike groups with their destroyer escorts and air wings, the finest on the planet, to protect U.S. forces in the region and, yes, to support the defense of the State of Israel,” he added.
Sullivan acknowledged that Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile barrage against Israel upended Biden’s plans to speak with Jewish leaders ahead of Rosh Hashanah.
“Instead, he was in the Situation Room, where, for the second time in five months, he ordered the U.S. military to take action to defend Israel from a significant attack by Iran,” Sullivan said. “We thank God we were successful in rendering that attack ineffective, but we remain highly vigilant to the further threats and attacks from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
Sullivan quoted Biden’s comments from earlier in the day that Oct. 7 was also a “dark day for the Palestinian people” because of the war’s civilian death toll. He also called for the creation of a Palestinian state.
“We have continued to actively pursue a pathway to a future where Israel enjoys normalized relations with all of its Arab neighbors, where Palestinians have a state of their own and where Israel’s security is assured forever,” he said.
“In my family, we read the poet John Donne, who said, and I quote, ‘Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind,’” he added. “And we have to bring that spirit to this conflict as well.”
