Israel

GOP Senators rail against Biden for changing his tune on Israel

Published

3 years ago

May 19, 2021

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) along with eleven other GOP Senators held a press conference Wednesday to reiterate their support for Israel, in hopes that the Biden administration will do the same. This comes after almost 20 GOP senators signed a resolution Tuesday to condemn Hamas attacks on Israel.

The senators held the press conference out of frustration with the current administration’s handling of the conflict. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) said the security situation is out of control at the event. Young also signed the resolution.

“Eight months ago we had unprecedented peace breaking out in the Middle East,” the senator said, who has served in both bodies of Congress for ten years. “But here we are months later, the wheels have literally fallen off the security situation.”

Many senators pointed out the president’s changing tone in the days since the violence started. “Israel has a right to protect itself,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said, echoing other senators. He pointed out that this was a direct quote from Biden early in the conflict.

But his messaging seems to be affected by the left. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) talked about how Biden’s message “then became he supports a cease fire. Then his aide said well he talked really tough to Benjamin Netanyahu. Today he said he expect significant deescalation from Israel. Joe Biden pretty soon is going to be supporting a resolution to stop arms sales to Israel.”

Cotton also announced during the conference that House Democrats introduced an additional resolution to block military resupply to Israel.

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) disagreed with the House Democrats’ proposal. Instead, Lankford said that “the strongest negotiating position we have” is remaining closely allied to Israel. Otherwise, it “stirs this chaos that’s in the region.”

Moreover, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AL) pointed to “one of the fortunate things that’s happening.” He said, “Civilian lives are being saved because of years of cooperation between the United States in Israel on missile defense.”

And Sen. Cindy Highsmith (R-MS) promised continued support for Israel “They are our allies. We are not going to abandon them at this time.”

Finally, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-AK) also brought attention to a diplomatic response to the conflict. “We still don’t have a nominee for the ambassador to Israel,” Marshall said. He called it a “signal to go ahead” for Iran and Hamas.

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism

China

Analysis: Biden unlikely to sanction Iran’s oil exports, gas prices ‘critical during an election year’

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2024

Sara Carter Staff

Analysts say President Joe Biden is unlikely to “prompt dramatic sanctions action on Iran’s oil exports” due to “worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China” according to Reuters.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, House Republican Representative Steve Scalise, said the administration had made it easier for Iran to sell its oil, generating revenues that were being used to “go fund terrorist activity.”

The Biden administration has maintained for months that among its primary goals is to keep the Gaza conflict between terror group Hamas and Israel from turning into a wider regional war. However, House Republican leaders accused President Joe Biden of failing to enforce existing measures and said they would take up this week a series of bills to sharpen sanctions on Iran.

Kimberly Donovan, a sanctions and anti-money laundering expert at the Atlantic Council, said that oil-related sanctions have not been strictly enforced in the past couple of years.

“I would not expect the administration to tighten enforcement in response to Iran’s missile and drone attacks against Israel over the weekend, mainly for concerns (that) could lead to increases in oil prices,” she said.

“The price of oil and ultimately the prices of gas at the pump become critical during an election year.”