On Thursday, fiercely pro-Israel Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) led a group of GOP senators who blasted President Joe Biden in a letter for “undermining Israeli operations against Hamas in Gaza.”
Biden issued a February 1 executive order in which he referred to Judea and Samaria as the “West Bank,” claimed there were “high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction,” all while ignoring the violence perpetrated against Israelis in the area.
“These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom. They also undermine the security of Israel,” he declared, adding, “These actions constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.”
On February 8, Biden issued a National Security Memorandum which stated that the United States had to “obtain credible and reliable written assurances from a representative of the recipient country as the Secretary of State deems appropriate that the recipient country will use any such defense articles in accordance with international humanitarian law and, as applicable, other international law,” thus leaving Israel vulnerable to “international law.”
“Both documents undercut our most valuable alliance in the Middle East,” Cotton and the other senators, including Ted Cruz of Texas, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Ted Budd of North Carolina, wrote. “We call on you to rescind both documents and to sanction terrorists and their supporters instead of their victims. Your February 1 EO grants the State Department broad authority to arbitrarily punish Israelis in Judea and Samaria, with no defined standards for determining when sanctions are warranted. Under the guise of ‘peace, security, or stability of the West Bank,’ it appears the State Department can punish arbitrarily any Israeli it wants.”
“Yet, the State Department hasn’t acted against the Palestinian Authority, which makes ‘pay to slay’ payments to terrorists for murdering innocent Israeli families,” the letter continued. “Nor has the State Department taken significant action to counter the surge in Palestinian terrorize in the West Bank, which increased by 350 percent in 2023, including 300 shooting attacks.”
“Your February 8 memorandum similarly — and falsely — implies that Israel is committing mass war crimes in its campaign against Hamas and threatens to cut off aid unless Israel meets arbitrary deadlines for providing ‘assurances’ regarding international humanitarian law,” the senators noted. “Yet, we already have rules requiring aid recipients to comply with applicable law and in line with American interests. Moreover, Israel has provided ample evidence of the steps it takes to avoid civilian casualties, which Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, John Kirby, acknowledged publicly.”
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“You should immediately rescind both your February 1 order and February 8 memorandum. Further, please provide Congress no later than March 15 with a full explanation of what evidentiary basis and processes are intended to be employed when choosing to sanction Israelis while ignoring the serious crimes committed by the Palestinian Authority,” they concluded.
My colleagues and I sent a letter to President Biden urging him to rescind his directives that are intended to undermine Israel. pic.twitter.com/EhuKXd0dBl
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 1, 2024