Biden betrays Israel – threatening to veto $14.5 billion in a military aid package passed by the House is a terrible mistake
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – You’ve got to be kidding me.
U.S. President Joe Biden is actually threatening to veto emergency military aid to Israel.
Has he completely lost his mind?
Biden just flew over here and vowed to have our back in this ghastly war, come what may.
Setting aside all partisanship, I thanked him for doing so, writing on ALL ISRAEL NEWS that Biden deserved credit both for being the first American president to come to Israel during a hot war, and for pledging to provide the weapons and ammo and other assistance we need to achieve a decisive victory of our savage enemies.
But now Biden is betraying Israel by threatening to create partisan fight over a simple, stand alone aid package.
This is wrong.
With so much of the world and the media turning against Israel, now is the time Israel needs vigorous bipartisan and unified support in Washington.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an emergency military aid package for Israel worthy $14.5 billion.
The bill passed on a bipartisan basis – 226 members voting in favor and 196 voting against – with 12 Democrats joining Republicans to stand firmly with Israel.
“The 12 Democrats who voted with Republicans are among the party’s most pro-Israel lawmakers,” reported the Times of Israel, including “Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Jared Moskowitz, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel, Jared Golden, Juan Vargas, Angie Craig, Don Davis, Greg Landsman, Darren Soto, Haley Stevens and Frederica Wilson.”
The move was the fulfillment of a promise made by new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), a devout Evangelical Christian, to move pro-Israel legislation immediately and to separate such aid from a series of other aid requests that the White House wants Congress to pass.
Johnson agreed to bring up those other requests for individual votes but said he didn’t want aid for Israel to be slowed down for any reason.
“Johnson's package required that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere,” reported the Associated Press.
“Johnson, R-La., said the Republican package would provide Israel with the assistance needed to defend itself, free hostages held by Hamas, and eradicate the militant Palestinian group, accomplishing ‘all of this while we also work to ensure responsible spending and reduce the size of the federal government,’” the Associated Press noted.
But Biden is insisting on a vastly larger aid package of some $106 billion.
This would lump together aid for Ukraine, as it fights Russia, and increased security on the U.S. border with Mexico, among other matters.
Making things even worse, “in the Democratic-controlled Senate, [Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer made clear that the House bill would be rejected,” the AP reported.
"The Senate will not take up the House GOP's deeply flawed proposal, and instead we'll work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package," Schumer instead.
Just great.
America’s most faithful ally is at war with a genocidal enemy and President Biden and Senator Schumer have decided to play politics.
God help us all.
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
