GOP Rep Slams Biden, Praises Trump, In Fiery Speech At Israel's Knesset
Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) delivered a speech at the Israeli Knesset on Sunday where she slammed President Biden and called for unconditional military support for Israel to support the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
Stefanik and other Republicans have been furious with President Biden for putting a pause on one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs and threatening to withhold heavy weapons if Israel launched a major attack on “population centers” in Rafah, although he hasn’t taken any action as Israel continues to escalate in the city.
"I have been clear at home and I will be clear here: There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel — aid that was duly passed by the Congress — or to ease sanctions on Iran, paying a $6 billion ransom to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, or to dither and hide while our friends fight for their lives," Stefanik told the Knesset’s Caucus for Jewish and Pro-Israel Students on Campuses Around the World.
She was referencing a prisoner swap deal the US made with Iran before October 7, under which Tehran was granted access to $6 billion of its own frozen funds that were transferred from South Korea to Qatar.
Republicans claim that President Biden gave $6 billion to Iran, but it’s unclear if Tehran ever had access as the US and Qatar agreed to freeze them again in October 2023, not long after the deal was made.
Stefanik declared that the US should provide Israel with "what it needs, when it needs it, without conditions to achieve total victory in the face of evil." Despite the Republican outrage at President Biden, his administration has promised that Israel will get every penny of the $17 billion in new military aid that was recently authorized by Congress.
Stefanik praised former President Donald Trump for his "historic support for Israeli independence and security." Trump has been running on an extremely pro-Israel platform and claimed President Biden "abandoned" the country by issuing a warning about Rafah.
“Today, I stand before you not just as a leader in the United States Congress, but as a lifelong admirer, supporter, and true friend of Israel and the Jewish people.
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) May 19, 2024
You see I am lucky enough to have had the privilege of traveling here many times before, but I must confess that… pic.twitter.com/uvoMWOvFiu
Stefanik also slammed American college students who are protesting the unrelenting Israeli assault in Gaza, as she has been leading the charge in Congress in making accusations of antisemitism despite the fact that many Jewish students are participating in the protests.
"I led the charge to expose this moral rot of antisemitism infecting our supposed most elite higher education institutions," she said.