Biden White House Rips Tuberville Over Warning About Taking Sides Amid Assault on Israel

President Joe Biden’s White House ripped Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for telling an interviewer that “when you start picking sides in the Middle East, it can get really messy very quick” and lambasted his blockade on military appointments.

Tuberville spoke to an interviewer for local Gray Television station WBRC in Birmingham this week about the coordinated terrorist assault on Israel by Hamas, and had this to say about “picking sides”:

I’m hoping that cooler heads prevail, they don’t go into Palestine. Hopefully they get the hostages back and people start cooperating.

But this has been really bad. Israel has the right to go because they they came in and they did some terrible things in their country.

But the problem is when you start picking sides in the Middle East, it could get really messy very quick.

The remarks drew blistering condemnation from the White House, including a lengthy memo from White House senior communications adviser Andrew Bates tying Tuberville’s blockade to the crisis in Israel:

MEMO

To: Interested parties

RE: Tuberville warns against “picking sides” after terrorist attacks on Israel, while undercutting U.S. military chains of command in the Middle East

Date: 10/11/2023

From: Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates

The terrorist atrocities in Israel are a stark reminder that America’s military must be ready for anything on a moment’s notice. And the men and women who put their lives on the line for their country deserve the absence of self-inflicted attacks on their readiness from self-serving politicians, like Sen. Tuberville.

Outrageously, at the same time Senator Tuberville is directly sabotaging the American military – including in the Middle East – he is also warning against “picking sides,” even after Israel endured horrific terrorist attacks from Hamas.

Last night he told a reporter, “the problem is, when you start picking sides in the Middle East, it can get really messy very quick.”

President Biden was explicit yesterday about where America stands: “We’re with Israel. Let’s make no mistake.”

As President Biden rapidly deploys ships and aircraft to deter further attacks on Israel, CNN reports that “Tuberville’s blockade means that the current commander of the US Navy’s 5th fleet – which is responsible for US naval operations in the Middle East region including the Red Sea and Gulf of Oman – is still awaiting promotion to deputy commander of US Central Command.”

The CNN story also shows how other critical military leadership positions are going unfilled because of Senator Tuberville.

At the same time, Senator JD Vance is imposing a hold on ambassador nominees, which is costing the American people top representatives in multiple Middle East countries.

A wide range of experts across the political spectrum have called on Senator Tuberville to stop actively hurting the American military – including both Trump Administration secretaries of Defense.

Among their chief concerns is that forcing top command positions to remain vacant degrades the quality of leadership. Retired Marine Corps General Arnold Punaro warns, “Unfortunately, the only way you can ever prove [the harm] to somebody like Sen. Tuberville” is when “young Marines and young soldiers die in combat because they’re not as well led.”

Senator Tuberville’s selfish stunt is also providing a windfall to our adversaries in the world.

Earlier this year, Army veteran and senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute Luke Coffey told the Financial Times, “With China’s threats to destabilise the Indo-Pacific, Russia’s aggression in eastern Europe, and Iran’s race to a nuclear bomb, it is clear that Senator Tuberville’s hold on hundreds of senior military nominations undermines US national security.”

Senator Tuberville’s vandalism is having consequences in the state to the west of his Florida home, Alabama. In September, The Washington Post covered the needless pain being done to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, saying the holds “undermined the military’s long-term planning, derailed the training of future leaders in highly specialized fields and disrupted the lives of military families.”

And military families around the country have spoken out against Sen. Tuberville.

Regardless of any delusions Senator Tuberville is under, this is not a game. The stakes for America’s military could not be higher. And the abhorrent Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel are an inescapable reminder that Tuberville is intentionally undermining our military readiness in the name of personal politics.

And when it comes to the horrific events in Israel, President Biden knows which side he’s on. Senator Tuberville should look in the mirror and then follow the President’s lead.

Watch above via WBRC.