In the wake of a number of terrorist attacks hitting not only Israel but other countries around the world, Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Rivlin and US Secretary of State John Kerry all expressed a desire earlier today for an internationally coordinated effort in fighting the global threat of terrorism.

“All free nations are facing the threat of radical Islam, which is the product of hate not of faith, and all of us must work together against this great evil,” President Rivlin said during a press conference with John Kerry. “We do not need to apologize for our belief in freedom.”

“Sadly of course, in Israel we are not strangers to the horrors of terrorism,” Rivlin noted. “The pain is the same, in Tel Aviv, as it is Paris, in Gush Etzion, as it is in Mali.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu made similar remarks during his press conference with John Kerry. “We believe that the entire international community should support this effort,” Netanyahu said. “It’s not only our battle, it’s everyone’s battle. It’s the battle of civilization against barbarism.”

At the press conference with Netanyahu, Secretary Kerry expressed his support and desire to take part in such a coordinated effort.

“I’m here today to talk with the Prime Minister about the ways that we can work together, all of us – the international community – to push back against terrorism, to push back against senseless violence and to find a way forward, to restore calm and to begin to provide the opportunities that most reasonable people in every part of the world are seeking for themselves and for their families,” said Kerry.

“We all have an interest, needless to say, in working together against this spasm of violence that is interrupting too much of the daily life of too many nations,” Kerry added.

Kerry also stressed that such acts of violence should be universally condemned. “This is a challenge to all civilized people,” Kerry said. “We all have a responsibility to condemn that violence, to make it clear that no frustration, no politics, no ideology, no emotion, justifies taking innocent lives.”

This is John Kerry’s first visit to Israel since the summer of 2014 when he attempted to negotiate and implement a ceasefire during Operation Protective Edge. John Kerry arrived in Israel today in part to discuss strategies of decreasing the tensions and levels of violence that have spiked between Israel and the Palestinians over the last couple of months.