|
By Joel Pollack
(OCTOBER 19, 2023 / BREITBART) He began with heartfelt expressions of solidarity with Israel, and with the thousands of victims murdered, wounded, and kidnapped by the Palestinian terror group, Hamas. But then he tried to tie Israel, an issue that unites the American public, to Ukraine, a war that is becoming increasingly unpopular and that Americans do not understand.
It was a worrying sign that Biden’s support for Israel might be weak, and conditional. On his visit, Biden got the empathy part of the visit right. It was impressive that he went at all, and when he did, he said the right thing: “You are not alone.”
But he made a mistake by insisting on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, knowing full well that it will be seized by Hamas terrorists, and undermining Israel’s call for all the hostages — including Americans — to be released first. And now he has jeopardized funding for Israel’s war effort by tying it to funding for Ukraine’s months-old stalemate against Russia.
The most charitable way to describe this linkage is that it was an attempt to justify support for allies in general. But it looked and felt more like a way to exploit atrocities to justify billions more in defense spending. That will delight lobbyists and contractors in Washington, but will infuriate Americans who wonder why Biden will not spend even a fraction of those billions on finishing the wall along the southern border, to keep our own country safe.
Tying Israel to Ukraine is an attempt to overcome objections in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold the majority, and where conservatives are starting to ask questions like what the goal of the war is, and whether the money is being stolen.
But Israel is not Ukraine. Israel is a much closer ally. It is a democracy, and has been for far longer than Ukraine. Its intelligence assists U.S. counter-terror operations; its technology, like the Iron Dome, keeps American troops safe.
| 
