Leads group of Republican senators in urging President Biden to stand with Israel
Senator Ted Cruz
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today led a group of Republican senators in calling for President Biden his administration to stand firmly with our ally Israel, as the Israelis are defending themselves against waves of attacks by Iran-backed terrorist groups including Hamas. Sen. Cruz was joined by Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). Read Sen. Cruz’s full opening remarks below.
WATCH: Sen. Cruz: President Biden Must Stand With Israel and Replenish Iron Dome
“Good afternoon. As we gather here today, Israel is at war. We’re just four months into the Biden Harris administration and we’ve already seen the disasters on the policy front racking up one after the other. We have a border crisis on our southern border, an absolute disaster because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won’t enforce the law. We have gas lines across the country because of their failed energy policies and their failure to protect critical infrastructure. We have a burgeoning inflation crisis that is hitting people across the country and especially seniors. And now, we have a shooting war in the Middle East. Every one of these is the cause is caused by mistaken and disastrous political decisions from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
“Just six months ago, the world was very different. Just six months ago, we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. Just six months ago, America was the leading producer of oil and natural gas and an energy superpower on the global stage. And just six months ago, peace was flowering throughout the Middle East. The Abraham Accords were historic peace agreements between Israel and her Arab neighbors, and they were the result of strong and clear policies from the Trump administration.
“Two decisions in particular by President Trump set the stage for the Abraham Accords. Number one, the decision to move our embassy to Jerusalem, the once and eternal capital of Israel, which presidents of both parties had promised to do that. Presidents of both parties had broken that promise. I was there in Jerusalem when we opened the embassy, and it was a clear and unequivocal statement to our friends and to our enemies that America stands resolutely with Israel. And then secondly, that same week, President Trump withdrew America from the disastrous Obama Iran nuclear deal, the single most important national security decision made by President Trump. Those two decisions set the stage for the Abraham Accords. When the Abraham Accords were signed at the White House, I was there. I spoke with the ambassadors and foreign ministers from the UAE and from Bahrain. Both said virtually the identical thing. Both said it is now clear to us that America stands unequivocally with Israel. We want to be friends with America. Therefore we will be friends with Israel. That clarity, that strength produces peace.
“What did Joe Biden do? He came in and immediately began undermining Israel. He immediately began sending hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority, which is in bed with Hamas terrorists. And he set as his number one foreign policy goal, reentering the disastrous Obama Iran nuclear deal and sending billions of dollars to the Ayatollah Khomeini, who chants death to America and death to Israel. As a direct result of those failed decisions, we now have hundreds and hundreds of rockets raining down on innocent men, women, and children in Israel from Hamas funded by Iran.
“The Biden administration’s mistakes produced this crisis and what is Joe Biden doing today? Today, he called Prime Minister Netanyahu not to say America stands with Israel, not to say we have your back, not to say you have a right to defend yourself against terrorism, but instead a tough call. As the administration is now proudly trumpeting where President Biden condescended and lectured to Prime Minister Netanyahu and urged him to stop defending Israel against the terrorists.
“Let me be clear: there is no moral equivalency between terrorists murdering innocent civilians and a sovereign nation defending itself against those terrorists. Some years ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu put it powerfully when he observed the difference between Israel and Hamas: ‘They use their citizens to protect their missiles. We use our missiles to protect our citizens’. And Hamas regularly stores missiles in kindergartens, in hospitals. They use human shields.
“And what are the Democrats doing? The Democrats act as their press agents. The Democrats spread propaganda because human shields are all designed locating military assets where innocent Palestinian civilians are likely to be the inadvertent targets of any act to strike back against the terrorists. It is Hamas that is killing these human shields. And the Democrats and the press are happily parroting that propaganda language. Several years ago, I led a bipartisan resolution that passed unanimously in the Senate condemning the use of human shields as a war crime. It is a war crime. But right now, the Democratic Party is governed and led by the extreme left, by the squad, by AOC, and Tlaib, and Omar, whose statements might as well be issued on behalf of Hamas. They are accusing Israel of engaging in terrorism. Defending your citizens from violent terrorist attacks is the right of Israel, and I will say for every Senate Democrat, they have an opportunity right now to decide where do they stand. Just a minute ago, I was speaking with a reporter who relayed that Chuck Schumer had told him, ‘I don’t want to answer any questions on Israel.’ Well, I bet he doesn’t. I bet he doesn’t because he’s so scared of AOC primarying him from the left that he doesn’t want to say anything to anger the anti-Israel extreme left in the Democratic Party.
“Now is the time for men and women with courage to step up and say, we stand with Israel. And by the way, now is a time when the Biden administration ought to step forward and say we’re going to replenish the Iron Dome munitions that are saving thousands of lives by intercepting these terrorist rocket attacks. Instead of attacking, and belittling, and undermining the nation of Israel, President Biden ought to be standing with Israel and replenishing the Iron Dome munitions.”