During a 2019 interview with PBS News, then-candidate Joe Biden said the following: “The idea that we would cut off military aid to an ally, our only true, true ally in the entire region, is absolutely preposterous. It’s just beyond my comprehension anyone would do that.”
Candidate Biden was talking about Israel. And, less than 5 years later, President Biden did exactly that; he cut off military aid to Israel.
In a CNN interview this week, President Biden said “ “I made it clear that if [Israel goes] into Rafah … I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities that deal with that problem.”
“We’ve held up the weapons. We’ve held up one shipment,” Biden said later in the interview.
In addition to making a foreign policy decision that hurts one of America’s greatest allies in its time of need, multiple media outlets are reporting the questionable timeline of Biden’s decision — and did he purposely delay the news until after his Holocaust Remembrance Day remarks.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer wants answers on why President Biden would threaten Israel’s offensive aid; he’s fired off a letter to security advisor Jake Sullivan.
“The Committee is alarmed by the Biden administration’s willingness to play political games with U.S. taxpayer-funded assistance going to Israel,” Comer wrote in a letter signed by Republicans on the Oversight Committee. “On May 9, 2024, President Biden made public that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use in its offensive on Rafah—the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza.”
“Further reporting indicates that the National Security Council actively chose to withhold this information from the public eye for days, in part so that news of the decision would not be known when President Biden delivered a speech touting support for Israel on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Committee seeks a briefing, as well as documents and information related to this decision, including any legal justification for withholding essential supplies from Israel in its fight against Hamas terrorists who still have Israeli and American hostages.”
“The Committee finds both the decision to withhold essential military aid and hiding that decision from the public for political purposes disturbing, especially given that on President Biden’s first day in office, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pledged that the administration would, ‘bring transparency and truth back to government.’ Hiding information from the public for political gain does not meet this Committee’s definition of transparency,” Comer wrote.
“The Biden administration’s priorities appear to be motivated by public perception, and not what is best for national security or diplomacy.”
At the very least, Candidate Biden would like to have a word with President Biden.
