Rep. Paul Ryan, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, was in Israel this week, and reiterated that the Jewish state is one of America’s closest and most important allies.

In an interview with Times of Israel, Ryan, who was Mitt Romney’s running mate in the 2012 US presidential election, said that with the rise of Islamic terror, Washington needs to bolster its ties with Israel now more than ever.

“They’re coming at Israel, but they’re ultimately coming for us,” the representative from Wisconsin said. “So we are partners in this war on terror, radical Islamic terrorism. Israel is an indispensable ally in that. Israel is on the front line in so many ways with respect to it.”

Several days earlier, Jamal Muhaisen, a member of the central committee of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling Fatah faction, insisted that America is “the number one enemy of the Palestinian people.”

“The American people in the US are under Jewish-Zionist occupation,” claimed Muhaisen in an interview on official Palestinian Authority TV. “I reiterate: the number one enemy of the Palestinian people, and of the Arab and Islamic nation, remains the US.”