President Joe Biden and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, condemned the rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups.
Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to show his “unwavering support for Israel’s security and for Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself and its people, while protecting civilians,” according to the official White House readout.
The escalation between Israel and Palestinian forces began on Monday and is now resulting in street violence between Arabs and Jews. Netanyahu allegedly plans to send military forces to maintain peace, BBC reported.
Sen. Cruz also vocalized his support for Israel in a statement on Monday: “Today’s reprehensible missile attack comes after days of heightened anti-Semitic incitement and violence driven by Palestinian leaders and the Iranian regime, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.”
Despite the Biden administration’s attempt to show solidarity with America’s Middle East ally, the senator blasted them for not doing enough to support Israel.
The Biden Administration and the State Department “have morally and diplomatically equivocated between our Israeli ally and Palestinian terrorists, and at times falsely, shamefully, and without justification singled out Israel for blame,” Cruz said.
Breitbart reported that the recent violence consisted of “More than 1,000 rockets…launched from the Hamas-ruled enclave into Israel, killing five people and injuring hundreds more. Israeli airstrikes killed at least 35 people in Gaza, most of whom were terror groups or else victims of Hamas rocket fire that had fallen short of its target.”
Hamas is now claiming they are using new missiles that have the ability to reach all of Israel, according to The Times of Israel.
On Wednesday, President Biden again indicated his support for Israel, telling reporters that “Israel has a right to defend itself,” against terrorism.
President Biden: “Israel has a right to defend itself.” pic.twitter.com/p0DdeDb1Uz
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 12, 2021
Former President Trump issued a statement weighing in on Biden’s response to the war-like Israel-Palestine conflict in a statement.
“Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies,” said Trump.
Trump continued to contrast Biden’s response to his own administration’s treatment of Israel: “When I was in office we were known as the Peace Presidency, because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel.”
The Trump administration was responsible for fostering relative peace in the Middle East through the negotiation of several peace deals “normalizing relations” with Israel and Muslim-majority countries, such as Saudi Arabia.
The former president also made it clear the United States was a strong ally of Israel’s through moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Deal, and many more important landmark decisions.
However, while the Biden White House says they stand with Israel, it has yet to show it will have the same strong alliance with Israel as the Trump administration.
