A senior Israeli minister quoted President Theodore Roosevelt in an English tweet aimed at U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Tuesday, defending Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Hamas terror organization.

Blinken met with Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, Tuesday morning, before meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the IDF’s headquarters in Tel Aviv.

During the back-to-back meetings, Blinken pressed Israeli leaders to scale-down Israel’s ongoing war with the Hamas terrorist organization, as part of the Biden administration’s bid to reduce casualties in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken’s visit to Israel is the latest stop on a regional tour which included trips to Turkey, Greece Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia.

After speaking with President Herzog, Blinken told reporters he planned to “share some of what” he heard “from those leaders” with not only President Herzog, but also with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet.

Prior to Blinken’s meeting with the Israeli cabinet, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) tweeted a message, penned in English, at the Secretary of State, quoting the 26th American head of state.

“Mr. Secretary Blinken, it’s not the time to speak softly with Hamas, it’s time to use that big stick.”

Last week, Ben-Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) both clashed with the Biden administration over their support for encouraging the mass emigration of Palestinian Arabs from the Gaza Strip – a proposal the White House castigated.

Image - Flash90