Israelis paying ‘very, very steep price’ for Biden appeasing Iran, giving $6 billion to terror regime
“We're unifying to fight Hamas and win. But there is grieving. This is very painful.”
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration has no smoking gun linking the savage terror attacks against Israel to the Iranian regime.
"We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship," Blinken said on CNN's "State of the Union” program.
Blinken said this with a straight face, despite the fact that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his regime fund, arm and train Hamas operatives.
And despite the fact that Khamenei was quick to praise Hamas for slaughtering nearly 1,000 Israeli men, women, and children.
"We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime," Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wearing a Palestinian scarf, said in a televised speech.
And despite the fact that The Wall Street Journal is reporting: “Iran helped plot attack on Israel over several weeks” and that “the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gave the final go-ahead last Monday in Beirut.”
Yesterday, I was asked by CBN News anchor Jenna Browder about Blinken’s comments.
I told her President Biden’s two years of appeasement of the Iranian regime is emboldening Tehran and we in Israel are paying the price.
“You don't need a smoking gun,” I replied. “This is the problem with the Biden administration….They just gave $6 billion to a terrorist regime….Iran is a terrorist state and you shouldn't give them money to keep doing terrorism.”
“Yes, President Biden is probably the most pro-Israel leader in the Democratic Party, but that's of little comfort right now,” I added.
“He's not trying to put us in harm's way. He just has no idea what he's doing. But by giving $6 billion to America's worst enemy, Israel's worst enemy, you're encouraging more terrorism and Israel is paying the price.”
“We're a small country,” I noted. “It is rocking us hard. We're unifying to fight Hamas and win. But there is grieving. This is...this is painful. I've never seen anything quite like it. And I've been traveling to Israel for 35 years, and I've been living here for nine.”
The following is a transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for clarity.
JENNA BROWDER: We're getting reports linking Iran to Saturday's attack on Israel that are increasingly clear. For more, let's go to Joel Rosenberg, author, founder and editor in chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and host of THE ROSENBERG REPORT. Joel and his wife, we should mention, live in Jerusalem. Joel, welcome. I'd like to start just by asking, how are you doing? And what have these past few days been like for you there?
ROSENBERG: Thank you, Jenna. It's great to be with you. And I'm so grateful for the continuing great coverage that CBN News does to cover Israel generally, but particularly this conflict. Yeah, it's been crazy. This is Israel's darkest hour. Whether you use the analogy of 9/11 or Pearl Harbor, this is Israel's equivalent. We were blindsided by an attack — not just by almost 4,000 rockets and missiles, but by about a thousand Hamas terrorists storming across the border, blowing up the border fence between Israel and Gaza and then just coming in and slaughtering people. We're now upwards of 900 Israelis that have died in the last 72 hours. Just to put it in context, Jenna, you know, Israel is only 10 million people and the United States is 330 million. So you guys are 33 times larger than us. So, imagine if CBN News had a report today that about 30,000 Americans had died in the last three days. That's the emotional equivalent — population-comparison wise — for us to have 900 Israelis murdered. We're a small town, a small country. It is rocking us hard. We're unifying to fight Hamas and win. But there is grieving. This is...this is very painful. I've never seen anything quite like it. And I've been traveling to Israel for 35 years, and I've been living here for nine.
BROWDER: So, U.S. intelligence officials have yet to uncover a smoking gun showing the Iranian connection to this attack. But by most accounts, Joel, it looks like that is the case. Your thoughts on that?
ROSENBERG: You don't need a smoking gun. This is the problem with the Biden administration's analogy. They — the Biden administration — just gave $6 billion to a terrorist regime. Okay? Yes, it was money that was originally Iranian. But why was it frozen by U.S. and international efforts? Because Iran is a terrorist state and you shouldn't give them money to keep doing terrorism. And that's what's so wrong. Yes, President Biden is probably the most pro-Israel leader in the Democratic Party, but that's of little comfort right now. He's not trying to put us in harm's way. He just has no idea what he's doing. But by giving $6 billion to America's worst enemy, Israel's worst enemy, you're encouraging more terrorism and Israel is paying the price.
Look, it's personal for me, Jenna. Just literally driving to the TBN studios today where I host my TV show, what happened? The sirens went off in Jerusalem. My wife, oldest son, his wife, her brother, we all had to bail out of the car, run for cover while the sirens are going off. And then we hear boom, boom, boom, boom, 14 or 15 times, as fortunately — praise God — the Iron Dome system took out the salvo of missiles heading for the capital city of Jerusalem, but one of those missiles didn’t make it to Jerusalem. It landed on a mosque in an Arab village just outside of Jerusalem and caused casualties. This is what the Biden administration's policy, unfortunately, has wrought. And we're paying the price — and it's a very, very high price.
BROWDER: So, in just a few seconds we have left, I want to ask you about the intelligence. It really seems like Israel was caught flat-footed in this when normally they're so good at being on top of attacks like this.
ROSENBERG: Yeah, this is the biggest, most colossal intelligence failure in the history of Israel. I would say it is worse than 1973, because even in the 1973 “Yom Kippur War,” those were mostly military casualties. That was bad. But this is 900 civilian casualties. The military is supposed to protect the civilians. It’s going to take months to unpack how this happened. But right now, we've got to unify and win this war and then we can figure out, “How did we get here in the first place?”
BROWDER: All right, Joel Rosenberg, it's always so good to see you. And we thank you for taking the time with us this evening. Thank you so much. And please stay safe.
ROSENBERG: It's an honor. I appreciate everyone's prayers for us.
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.
