Republicans are accusing President Joe Biden of betraying Israel after he threatened on Wednesday to cut off U.S.-supplied offensive weapons to the longtime ally if it attacks Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, called Biden the “greatest friend” to the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah and Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said Biden has been “a terrible friend to Israel and a useful pawn for Hamas.”
Rep. Keith Self of Texas called Biden’s warning his “Benedict Arnold moment with our great ally Israel.”
In a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday, a parade of Senate Republicans took turns lambasting the president.
“Joe Biden's de facto position is for a Hamas victory over Israel,” said Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa added: “The last thing that we need is a president who waffles on his support to Israel. So much for that ‘iron clad support’ — his words, not mine.”
And Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said: “This is all about President Biden and (Defense Secretary) Lloyd Austin trying to take over the war from Israel. I got one message for Israel: Don’t let them do it.”
In an interview Thursday with Spectrum News North Carolina, former President Donald Trump accused Biden of turning his back on Israel.
“I wouldn't do what Biden did,” Trump said. “He just abandoned Israel. I've never seen anything like it. People can't believe it. And why Jewish people vote for Democrats is beyond me.
“Don't vote for Biden because you're really hurting your country,” added Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee this year. “ … If you're Jewish and you vote for him, I say shame on you.”
Trump’s comments suggesting American Jews have loyalties to both the U.S. and Israel echoes a trope that Jewish groups call antisemitic.
Talking to CNN on Wednesday, Biden drew a red line at Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.
After Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 others, Israeli forces unleashed an extensive aerial bombardment and large-scale ground invasion in Gaza. Nearly 35,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Biden expressed concerns about the U.S. continuing to supply heavy bombs to Israel. A senior U.S. administration official told The Associated Press a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs had already been paused. Austin confirmed to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that “one shipment of high payload munitions” was intentionally delayed.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically.”
GOP lawmakers accuse Biden of defying Congress by halting military aid it approved for Israel in its war against Hamas. A $95 billion foreign assistance package signed by Biden last month included $14 billion for Israel.
“This is insane [that] … this administration would decide unilaterally, without any input from Congress or anybody else, that because they don't like the way that Israel is defending itself against this threat that somehow they're going to start cutting off the various assistance that the United States Congress said that we want sent to Israel,” Cotton said.
Cotton compared Biden’s actions to the charges in Trump’s first impeachment, in which the former president was accused of withholding military aid to Ukraine while he pressed Kyiv to launch an investigation into Biden, who was running against him in 2020. The Republican-led Senate acquitted Trump.
“Some people say Joe Biden is doing this for his reelection, which would be bad enough,” Cotton said. “It would also, I have to add, be grounds for impeachment under the Democrats’ Trump-Ukraine standard — withholding foreign aid to help one's reelection.”
The White House did not respond to an email seeking comment for this article.
Biden told CNN the U.S. is still committed to Israel’s defense and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms but that if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a letter to Biden on Wednesday that the White House told them “assistance funded by the supplemental appropriations bill will not be impacted.”
Cotton accused Biden of “emboldening Hamas” and hurting negotiations, mediated by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, for a cease-fire that would include the release of the roughly 100 hostages still being held in Gaza.
“Why would Hamas release hostages when Joe Biden will give Hamas exactly what it wants — survival without releasing hostages?” Cotton asked.
Without directly commenting on Biden’s remarks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, "If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone."
Addressing Israelis, Cotton said: “You won't have to fight alone. You don't have a problem with America. You have a problem with Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party, and the American people are going to solve that problem for you in six months.”
Several Democrats, meanwhile, are supporting Biden’s warning to Israel.
"I'm very grateful and encouraged to hear the president's position on this," New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Spectrum News on Wednesday, calling it "the responsible thing to do."
“@POTUS has long warned PM Netanyahu that invading Rafah would be a ‘red line’ — it would result in untold civilian death & destruction, and undermine our efforts to return the hostages,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., posted on X, formerly Twitter. “I applaud him for making clear today that the U.S. will not be complicit in this suffering.”
Added Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.: The United States has a clear obligation to stop the massacre of innocent civilians. This is the right and just thing for @POTUS to do.”
