White House Voices Opposition to GOP Bill to Compel Support for Israel

The Biden Administration has voiced its opposition to a bill championed by Republicans in Congress that would force Joe Biden to give military aid to Israel, after it had been revealed that he was deliberately withholding such aid.

As reported by Fox News, the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, introduced by House Republicans over the weekend, would “compel the expeditious delivery of approved defense articles and services to Israel, including third-party deliveries.” Initial reports claimed that Biden was deliberately withholding shipments of munitions and weapons that were already bound for Israel as part of the massive $95 billion foreign aid package he had previously signed into law; Biden later admitted to withholding this aid in an interview.

On Monday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained the administration’s opposition to the bill, saying that “we strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the president’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives.”

She added that the White House intends to eventually allow for the delivery of all of the Israeli aid, which encompassed $17 billion of the aforementioned package.

“It is our objective, as well, that we plan to spend every last cent appropriated consistent with legal obligations,” Jean-Pierre continued, “including in the recent…national security supplemental that was just passed.”

Biden’s decision to withhold the aid is allegedly in response to Israeli plans to invade the city of Rafah, which has become a stronghold for terrorist activity that has allowed Hamas to carry out recent attacks. Opponents claim that an invasion of Rafah would impact refugees who have fled to the city from more war-torn areas of the region. On Friday and Saturday, multiple rockets were fired at Israel from Rafah; in response, Israeli forces began rolling into Rafah on Israel’s Independence Day.

This comes as the Biden Administration is facing pressure from all sides of the political sphere with regards to his handling of the war in Israel. Republicans have slammed him for not doing enough to support America’s ally in the Middle East, and last week, a group of 26 House Democrats signed a letter to Biden saying that they were concerned about “the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies.”

Meanwhile, the far-left has accused Biden of being too pro-Israel, with college students and Muslim Americans in particular protesting across the country with demands that Biden switch his support from Israel to Hamas. Protests and riots have taken place on college campuses, and have led to tens of thousands of voters in the Democratic presidential primaries voting “uncommitted” out of protest of Biden’s handling of the Middle East.