McConnell Remarks On Biden Admin. Withholding Assistance to Israel
“If the Commander-in-Chief can’t muster the political courage to stand up to radicals on his left flank and stand up for an ally at war, the consequences will be grave. Other allies who rely on ‘ironclad’ guarantees from America will question our commitment. Nations on the fence, in the middle of a major-power competition for influence, will look elsewhere for their own security. And our enemies will be emboldened.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding aid to Israel:
“War is hell. It tears apart societies. It alters the course of entire civilizations.
“And innocent noncombatants suffer.
“Try as we might, humanity has not eradicated war or stripped it of its horrors.
“But in the modern world, civilized nations hold themselves to the highest standards and take deliberate care to minimize harm to civilians.
“The United States is first among these nations, but even we make mistakes. On this Administration’s watch, precision military strikes have inadvertently killed civilians in multiple theaters of operations.
“Our ally, Israel, goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. Over decades of grinding conflict to preserve its security – a circumstance most Americans can hardly imagine – Israel routinely accepts great risk to its own soldiers to avoid endangering innocent civilians.
“But the forces sworn to erase Israel from the earth follow a different code.
“To Hamas, civilian casualties are not tragedies – they’re tools of the trade.
“To these savages, kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder aren’t crimes – they’re tactics.
“For terrorists around the world, human suffering is the weapon of choice. And Hamas seeks to magnify it.
“These are facts. And any serious conversation about the war in Gaza needs to start here.
“If war could be avoided entirely, so could its terrible costs.
“Israel tried to avoid this war. It negotiated a cease-fire with the savage terrorists bent on destroying the Jewish state, all to try to avoid the war.
“The terrorists used this cease-fire to plan and prepare for war.
“And on October 7th, Hamas launched it. They also chose how Israel would be forced to fight it.
“Putting fighting positions in hospitals, schools, and United Nations facilities. Directly attacking humanitarian aid crossings. This doesn’t just contravene the laws of war. It exploits human suffering.
“Why does Hamas behave this way?
“Because it works. Because they know the media will cover it – ‘if it bleeds it leads’. Because they know it creates an international rush to blame Israel.
“Because leftist fifth columns and useful idiots on university campuses will play at revolution and express solidarity with the terrorists.
“Because the President of the United States will be forced to choose between his supposedly ‘ironclad’ commitment to an ally under attack and the will of his leftist political base.
“And because they bet that the President would choose the latter.
“Well, it would seem that Hamas bet correctly. President Biden is withholding urgent military assistance to Israel.
“But he cannot have it both ways. He cannot claim his support for Israel is ‘ironclad’ while denying Israel precisely the weapons they need to defend themselves.
“The President is old enough to remember 1968, but he seems to have learned the wrong lessons of that pivotal year.
“Caving to the college radicals will only whet their appetite to spend the summer demanding further anti-Israel concessions at his party’s convention.
“I fought for months to secure passage of the national security supplemental to support Israel, Ukraine, and vulnerable Asian partners, and to make important investments in our own military. I stood up to opposition in my own party to do the right thing.
“If the Commander-in-Chief can’t muster the political courage to stand up to radicals on his left flank and stand up for an ally at war, the consequences will be grave.
“Other allies who rely on ‘ironclad’ guarantees from America will question our commitment.
“Nations on the fence, in the middle of a major-power competition for influence, will look elsewhere for their own security.
“And our enemies will be emboldened.”
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Related Issues: Israel, Iran
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