Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he joins Israel’s efforts to “stomp out” terrorism. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that he stands beside Israel in wiping out terrorism, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Abbott was responding to the Palestinian stabbing spree in Jaffa-Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, in which an American graduate student and US Army vet from Texas was killed.

“It came as a stunning shock to me to learn earlier today that in the great nation that I just visited, a Texan lost his life because of a terrorist attack,” said Abbott, who was recently in Israel. “I strongly condemn that terrorism and reiterate the way that Texas will stand side by side with our friend and ally Israel on doing all that we can to stomp out terroristic activities like this in Israel.”

Taylor Force, the 28-year-old Lubbock, Texas native who lost his life in the terrorist attack, was pursing a graduate degree at Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, and was visiting Israel on a school trip to learn about startup companies.

Stuart Force, Taylor Force’s father, told The Associated Press that his son had been enjoying his time at Vanderbilt and was very excited about the trip to Israel. He said his son had only been in Israel a few days when the attack occurred.

“He just wanted to further his education and explore more of the civilian side of life,” Stuart said, adding that his son loved horses and ranch life after growing up in Texas.

After hearing the news of Taylor’s death, Marty Northern, Taylor’s former Scoutmaster in Lubbock, said, “Still almost kind of surreal to me that it’s him. I just can’t put any sense to why somebody would have randomly attacked someone like him. He’s a good kid, he’s a good guy, he’s a good man. they don’t know anything about him.”