Biden ‘Doesn’t Care about Israel. He Doesn’t Care about Peace. All He Cares about Is Staying in Power’
The war against Hamas has had plenty of plot twists, but the last 48 hours have thrown an already chaotic international scene into even more uncertainty. Not only did Israel’s perpetual tormenter, President Ebrahim Raisi, die in an unexpected helicopter crash, but members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are trying to arrest both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gazan leaders for “war crimes.”
The death of Raisi, who was aptly nicknamed the “Butcher of Tehran,” comes just weeks after Iran launched its first open attack on the Jewish state. After firing 300 drone, ballistic, and cruise missiles toward the Israelis (99% of which were intercepted by a team of allies and the Iron Dome), Raisi claimed, “Iran’s armed forces taught a lesson to the Zionist enemy.” He warned of a “heavier and regrettable response” if Israel retaliated.
Without him at the helm, most experts don’t expect much change in the regime’s posturing — toward the Jewish state or the U.S. “I do not expect any sort of disruption in that field to the extent that it has to do with Iran’s actual support for Hamas and its positioning on the ground,” researcher Hamidreza Azizi told Newsweek. If anything, the Revolutionary Guard’s role could “potentially intensify,” Mideast Gulf Editor Nader Itayim explained on CNBC.
While European leaders expressed condolences, the first Army Green Beret in Congress had quite a different take. “Good riddance,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) posted. “Raisi was a murderous human rights abuser before and during his Presidency. But look for the Iranian regime to blame Israel and the U.S. for an assassination as another excuse to support terrorism.”
“It wasn’t us,” an anonymous Israeli official insisted to Reuters. “The message Israel is sending to the countries of the world is that Tel Aviv has nothing to do with the incident,” another said on his country’s Channel 13.
Meanwhile, the ICC is intent on charging Netanyahu with other crimes he hasn’t committed, including “intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body or health of the civilian population,” prosecutor Karim Khan said Monday in his formal request for warrants. ““Israel, like all States, has a right to take action to defend its population. That right, however, does not absolve Israel or any State of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and leaders of Hamas’s terrorist organization were also named.
Furious, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz replied that “the State of Israel is waging one of the just wars fought in modern history following a reprehensible massacre perpetrated by terrorist Hamas on the 7th of October.” He went on, “While Israel fights with one of the strictest moral codes in history, while complying with international law and boasting a robust independent judiciary — drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a bloodthirsty terror organization is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy.”
Here in the U.S., outraged Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) cautioned the ICC from going forward with the threat. “I will feverishly work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both chambers to levy damning sanctions against the ICC” if they proceed, the South Carolinian warned.
“Most importantly, I want the world to know that I, along with my Republican and Democrat colleagues, and members of the Administration engaged the ICC on this issue weeks ago. We were told there would be discussions with Israel before any actions were taken. We stressed that the principle of ‘complementarity’ should be applied in this case. Complementarity requires the ICC to let the nation in question’s legal system move first before any action is taken by the Court.”
Graham said he was told that the investigation “would take months and not weeks, and that there would be meaningful consultation with the State of Israel. Instead of the ICC following through with scheduled consultations with Israel, they announced the warrants. I feel that I was lied to and that my colleagues were lied to. Prosecutor Khan is drunk with self-importance and has done a lot of damage to the peace process and to the ability to find a way forward. Lying prosecutors never bring about just outcomes.”
In the meantime, Hill conservatives and some Democrats are desperately working to get Israel the weapons they need — no thanks to Joe Biden. House leaders still can’t believe that the White House refuses to send munitions to the Jewish state and late last week, they passed the Israel Security Assistance Support Act to force the president’s hand.
“It’s disgraceful and it’s unlawful” to withhold that help from our allies, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice on Friday’s “Washington Watch.” “But here’s the situation,” he wanted people to know. “The president [is] reading his opinion polls and his radical left base that’s on these college campuses. … [T]hese aren’t your mom and dad’s Democrats. These are far-left anarchists and a very small minority. The president is so far down in the polls, they’re afraid they won’t even be able to bring those people to the table. So this is his [attempt to placate that anti-Semitic base].”
At the end of the day, Burchett pointed out, “He doesn’t care about Israel. He doesn’t care about peace. All he cares about is staying in power and keeping this group of anarchists that are running our country in the White House.” The idea that Congress has to pass a law “to make sure he follows a law that we already passed” is “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen,” he shook his head.
It’s “shameful,” Hice agreed. And the most absurd part of it all is that the administration is using these weapons as leverage to get Netanyahu to do what they want. “The Biden administration somehow is taking it upon themselves to micromanage a foreign war that’s being conducted by one of our allies.” Frankly, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) quipped, “If Biden had not been so obsessed with restricting Israel to appease his pro-Hamas base, the war likely would have been over by now.”
At the very least, Hice said, passing the bill to send arms to Israel at least shows the American people where the two parties stand. “We don’t support anarchists,” Burchett insisted, “we don’t support terrorists. Yet the Democrat[ic] Party apparently does.” So, if we want to fix this mess, the Tennessean argued, “the American people need to get to the polls. [In 2020,] 20 million so-called evangelical Christians decided to stay home. And that’s [one reason] we’ve got this disaster in the White House.”
AUTHOR
Suzanne Bowdey
Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.
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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.
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Hello… Israelis know Biden is just lip service. The only people he cares about is the ones that will enrich his family and the illegal coming through the southern border that are coming in before Trumps takes office. Right now that is the only hope for the Biden presidency- illegal votes.