White House tried to hide Biden’s pause on military aid to Israel until after he gave Holocaust Remembrance speech
The White House National Security Council attempted to conceal Joe Biden’s’ decision to pause weapons shipments to Israel from the public until the Democratic President could deliver a long-planned speech on Tuesday to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.
According to the Associated Press, Biden signed off on the order to the Pentagon to pause the shipments last week.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden stated that the US wouldn’t supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to attack the last remaining Hamas brigades in Rafah, the last stronghold in Gaza. During the interview, Biden attempted to claim he was still committed to Israel’s defense and pledged to continue supplying Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms.
Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman slammed Biden’s decision writing on X, “Let’s be brutally clear here — Israel cannot defeat Hamas without entering Rafah, where Hamas maintains four fully functioning battalions. Biden is siding with Hamas over Israel — there’s no other way to say it.”
He continued, “And to those who say he is protecting the Palestinian people, I call BS. Hamas is a far greater enemy of the Palestinians than is Israel. Hamas is the cause of their suffering. Palestinians will continue to suffer until Hamas is eradicated. And, as for the hostages held by Hamas (including Americans), this betrayal of Israel makes their release much more difficult. Biden continues to fail on every tough foreign policy call. And it’s all to gain the votes of self-hating Americans.”
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 to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem.”
Biden added, “We’re not walking away from Israel’s security. “We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas.”
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told Israel’s Channel 12 that the decision to pause the shipment was likely the result of political pressure on Biden from Democratic members of Congress, campus protests, and the upcoming election.
Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, demanded in a letter that Biden end the weapons embargo saying it “risks emboldening Israel’s enemies.”
Over the weekend, after Hamas rejected another ceasefire by launching rockets at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, the main conduit of aid, Israel seized control of the crossing. In response, Hamas claimed to have accepted a new ceasefire deal, one that the US had not proposed to Israel.
Hamas also launched another attack on the US floating aid pier.
Israel is continuing targeted strikes in Rafah and has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city.