During remarks on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke about Biden's support for Israel.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I'd like to begin my remarks today with a quote.
00:07The idea that we would cut off military aid to an ally, our only true, true ally in the
00:15entire region, is absolutely preposterous.
00:21It's just beyond my comprehension why anyone would do that.
00:29Five years ago, then-candidate Biden was saying the right thing about America's commitment
00:36to the Jewish state of Israel.
00:41Unfortunately, today, he's doing the complete opposite.
00:47The President and his administration are withholding critical military assistance from Israel
00:56as it fights to restore its security against savage terrorists, and they're refusing to
01:03answer basic questions about it.
01:07Last week, the Speaker of the House and I sent a letter to the Biden administration
01:14pressing for specific details on which weapons were being withheld and why they were being
01:23withheld.
01:26And while we waited for an answer, the Secretary of State spent the weekend dodging requests
01:34for any serious rationale driving the President's decision.
01:41Now, it's no secret that the administration is under immense pressure from the anti-Israel
01:49left.
01:51It's evident in the words of some of our own colleagues.
01:59Members of this body have urged the President to, quote, be more aggressive with the Israelis.
02:06They've demanded, quote, not one penny go to support America's ally unless Israel yields
02:15to their view of what's acceptable in self-defense.
02:21Of course, they've even engaged in grotesque political interference, calling for regime
02:29change in a sovereign democracy.
02:34The Intelligence Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow about foreign interference in our
02:39politics and elections.
02:42And yet, too many of our Democratic colleagues can't seem to resist the temptation to put
02:48their fingers on the electoral scales of other democracies.
02:56Far too many Washington Democrats have indulged what I've called the BB derangement syndrome,
03:02an absurd trope that's setting a dangerous precedent.
03:06Some of our colleagues talk about an Israeli government dominated by shadowy far-right
03:14forces.
03:16That government literally does not exist.
03:20Israel is led by a coalition, a national unity government.
03:27And its war cabinet, which includes members of multiple political parties, is distinguished
03:32by the absence, the absence of the most conservative members of the coalition.
03:40All accounts, support for military operations in Gaza and against Hezbollah in Lebanon transcends
03:50Israeli politics.
03:51Ah, but here in Washington, Democrats want to pretend that what they're objecting to
03:58is merely the will of a prime minister they don't like.
04:04Some of our most senior Senate colleagues, including the chairman of the state foreign
04:09operations subcommittee just this weekend, have even demonstrated an eagerness to assign
04:15political blame within Israel for the failure to prevent the October 7th attacks.
04:24Well, that'll be the job for the people of Israel, and it'll come after they finish restoring
04:33their security against the terrorists wearing Israeli and American blood.
04:43But let's make one thing absolutely clear, if the Biden administration continues to hector
04:50and impede our allies' progress toward this goal, a share of the blame for Hamas' success
04:57may well come to rest right here in Washington.
05:01Of course, there's already plenty of blame to go around among the Western institutions
05:08that have fallen into predictable patterns of dangerous anti-Israel bias in the months
05:16after October 7th.
05:18From the media who rush to fit the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust into tidy
05:28artificial narratives of moral equivalence and cycles of violence to the prominent international
05:37organizations who continue to elevate and legitimize outright terrorist propaganda.
05:45Just a few days ago, the United Nations finally admitted that the figures on Palestinian casualties
05:52it had held up for months as objective truth had been grossly overstated.
06:01As a spokesman put it, quote, in the fog of war, it's difficult to come up with the numbers.
06:07No kidding.
06:08It's especially difficult to get accurate data when you rely exclusively on the word
06:14of Hamas.
06:22And surprisingly, just days after announcing its revised numbers, the U.N. backtracked
06:30yesterday and resumed taking the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza at its word.
06:42But remember, the U.N.'s affiliation to terrorists isn't limited to data gathering, is it?
06:50Days of the U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, quite literally participated in the
06:56October 7th attack.
07:01So why don't we talk about the facts?
07:05In the last nine days, the terrorists controlling southern Gaza have attacked a major entry
07:13port for humanitarian aid from Israel six times, six times.
07:21This is not an accident.
07:25And if terrorists strike the absurdly inefficient and costly floating pier, that won't be an
07:30accident either.
07:34The true obstacle to peace and stability for the people of Gaza is loudly identifying itself.
07:43Hamas is showing us precisely why it can play no part in the future of Israelis or Palestinians.
07:51And a true ally would give Israel the time, space, and support it needs to eliminate the
07:58terrorist threat.
07:59But that's not what we've seen from the Commander-in-Chief.
08:05By limiting Israel's options, the President is giving the terrorists a lifeline.
08:12Does the Biden administration really expect Hamas to capitulate at a negotiating table
08:18when our conditions on Israel help terrorists survive on the battleground?
08:27And does the President think exhausting an arsenal of expensive low-inventory interceptors
08:33is changing Iran's broader calculus?
08:38The lesson from repelling Iran's direct drone and missile attacks on Israel or commercial
08:46shipping vessels isn't that we can't intercept them.
08:51The lesson is that we still haven't managed to compel Iran to stop doing it and that we
08:58ought to be doing much more to rebuild our stocks and capacity to produce air and missile
09:03defenses as well as the long-range weapons that can credibly threaten what Iran and other
09:09adversaries hold dear.
09:14This isn't new criticism and it isn't a new problem.
09:22An emboldened Iran, an unchecked network of proxies, and brazen violence against Israel,
09:31America, and the global economy, the President's choices have magnified these threats.
09:40He's invited them with retreat, with hesitation, and with appeasement.
09:48Today, the United States has effectively allowed itself to be deterred by a second-rate terrorist
09:57power.
09:59And the world is taking note.
10:01Our credibility is not divisible.
10:05Our failure to meet one challenge compounds the others we face.
10:12But the path forward is not a mystery.
10:15As I've said repeatedly, rebuild our military power, stand with our allies, deter our adversaries,
10:26and do it today.