‘Blown Away’: Israeli Journos, Ex-Officials Gush About Biden Speech — Watched Live By Whopping 48% of Israelis

President Joe Biden’s speech on the terrorist assault by Hamas was a big hit with prominent Israelis, who hit the cable airwaves to praise the address — which was watched by 48 percent of Israeli households.

The president took to the podium in the State Dining Room of the White House on Tuesday to deliver his second speech since Hamas launched an unprecedented coordinated terrorist assault on Israel Saturday morning that brought with it indescribable horrors that are still unfolding.

According to Axios, that speech was watched live on TV by a whopping 48% of Israeli households — not including those who watched online or on streaming.

The speech also struck a chord with several prominent Israeli figures who praised Biden on cable news Tuesday following the address.

Yaakov Katz of The Jerusalem Post told CNN’s Boris Sanchez that Israelis were “blown away” by the speech:

Israelis, I think, were warmed, heart warmed, blown away, maybe even by the speech, which really was strong, made it clear that there is no daylight between the United States and Israel right now. Made it clear that the President of the United States is doing everything that he can to stand by Israel. Takes this situation as seriously as possible and made a shot across the bow by saying to Hamas that America will not tolerate this. But also to Hezbollah, don’t you dare think of doing anything, and that is what Israel’s really concerned about.

Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, told Anderson Cooper that the speech was “the most pro-Israel speech I’d ever heard”:

Well, if one can hear a green light, Anderson, we heard a green light tonight.

Listen, I’ve been involved in U.S.’s relationship for many decades, both as the historian and as a practitioner. I’ve never heard a speech like that. It was the most pro-Israel speech I’d ever heard. It was deeply impassioned. It was unequivocal. And it’s supportive Israel with its condemnation of Hamas, of terror, of even anti-Semitism worldwide.

And it was very specific. It came true that it also surprised me. The president went further than I expected to go, even the best assets of what that speech could be.

Former Israeli ambassador to the UN and Knesset member Danny Danon expressed “gratitude” for the “remarkable and emotional speech”:

Anderson, we are very grateful for the word of President Biden. It was remarkable and emotional speech, and I think it was needed. At the time where we are today, where we are still counting the number of the victims. We are burying our friends to see the love and the support. We appreciate that. And we believe that President Biden, he actually intends to stand behind these walls and to support Israel. We don’t expect to see American troops on the ground, but to have the moral support, the moral clarity, the world, he said, were very strong and we appreciate that.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called the president a “moral beacon” in an interview with MSNBC:

And I should tell you that it’s very encouraging to Israelis to hear now, hear just how President Biden, I happen to know him for more than 40 years. I’m a half-year older than him. And it was a great speech, a great speech, not just as a American leader, as a leader of the free world, not just on statesmanship and geopolitics, but on a more, as a moral beacon, once again, standing clear and on the right side of history, on the right side of humanity. And it’s great encouragement to Israelis and probably a very good signal to our neighbors.

Watch above via CNN and MSNBC.