WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers reacted to President Joe Biden’s decision to suspend delivery of certain munitions to Israel that appeared to be a possible shift in U.S. policy, although the Pentagon said the move was not final.
SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL
In opening remarks in the Senate, the top Senate Republican harshly criticized Biden as bending “under the heat of domestic political pressure from his party’s anti-Israel base and the campus Communists who decided to wrap themselves in the flag of Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Speaking about the weapons delay in particular, McConnell accused Biden of “creating daylight between America and a close ally,” adding that the decision was withheld from Congress and that “we still don’t know key facts.”
“For the administration to withhold assistance from Israel is devastating in its own right. At home, it will only whet the appetite of the anti-Israel left, and abroad it will embolden Iran and its terrorist proxies.”
DEMOCRATIC U.S. REPRESENTATIVE RO KHANNA
A member of the House Armed Services Committee who has in the past called for a ceasefire, Khanna told Reuters that he wanted to see more details but viewed the action favorably.
“I support holding off on offensive weapons.”
INDEPENDENT U.S. SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS
“Given the unprecedented humanitarian disaster that Netanyahu’s war has created in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of children face starvation, President Biden is absolutely right to halt bomb delivery to this extreme, right-wing Israeli government. But this must be a first step.
The U.S. must now use ALL its leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, the end of the attacks on Rafah, and the immediate delivery of massive amounts of humanitarian aid to people living in desperation. Our leverage is clear. Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. We can no longer be complicit in Netanyahu’s horrific war against the Palestinian people.”
REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM
“If we stop weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the state of Israel at a time of great peril, we will pay a price. This is obscene. It is absurd. Give Israel what they need to fight the war they can’t afford to lose.”
REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATOR JERRY MORAN
“The Biden Admin has deliberately delayed munitions to Israel. Does this not embolden Iran? We should not be signaling to Israel’s enemies that U.S. support is conditional.”
(Reporting by Idrees Ali, Patricia Zengerle and Susan Heavey; editing by David Gregorio)
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