White House Hits Back Hard At Top Republican Slamming Biden In Israel
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The White House hit back hard at Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) after the head of the House GOP Conference took a swipe at President Joe Biden while addressing the Knesset Sunday.
“There has been no better friend to Israel than President Biden. He was the first American president to visit Israel during war time – in the aftermath of the horrific October 7th terrorist attacks – and the first president to order the U.S. military to defend Israel from a foreign nation’s attack,” said Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates in a statement to Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher.
“As he has demonstrated, President Biden’s support for Israel’s security is ‘ironclad.’ Unlike some figures on the right, President Biden did not rail against the Israeli government in the days after October 7, nor has he ever praised terrorist organizations like Hezbollah – and he will not be lectured by any person who was silent in the face of those offensive statements,” Bates added, referring to Donald Trump calling Hezbollah, a terror organization, “smart.”
“What’s more, no one should ever confuse January 6th convicts who assaulted police officers with the innocent hostages brutally taken captive by Hamas on October 7th,” Bates added, taking a jab at both Trump and Stefanik calling January 6th rioters, many of whom have pleaded guilty in court, “hostages.”
Stefanik told Israeli lawmakers that “There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel – aid that was duly passed by the Congress, or to ease sanctions on Iran, paying a $6 billion ransom to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, or to dither and hide while our friends fight for their lives.” Notably, Biden and Senate Democrats had supported sending additional aid to Israel months before it finally passed the GOP-led House, which repeatedly voted down a Senate bill to send additional funds to Israel.
Stefanik’s comments were a departure from the long-held tradition of not engaging in partisan rhetoric overseas.
