Iran attacks U.S. troops 28 Times, Biden administration fails to seriously respond
Republican Senator and Committee Vice Chair Susan Collins recently asked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin about a New York Times report that “Iranian-backed terrorists continue to attack U.S. forces in the region.” Here is the exchange:
COLLINS: Secretary Austin, as you indicated in your opening remarks, Iranian backed terrorist proxy groups in the region have launched numerous drone and rocket attacks against our forces, U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq. According to press reports, there have been at least 20 such attacks and 19 U.S. service members have been wounded. It’s imperative that Iran and its proxy groups understand that they cannot attack American forces with impunity. I know that last week, President Biden ordered two U.S. strikes against facilities in Syria used by Iranian proxies to threaten our troops. But The New York Times has reported over the weekend that Iranian backed terrorists continue to attack U.S. forces in the region even after these airstrikes, since these U.S. airstrikes apparently have not been sufficient to deter additional attacks on our troops by Iranian backed proxies. What else is the department doing to stop attacks against American troops?
AUSTIN: Thanks. Sure. First of all, let me emphasize that the protection, the safety of our troops and our civilians is of utmost importance to me and of utmost importance to the president as well. We’ve taken a number of steps to make sure that we increase our force protection posture. We’ve deployed a number of assets into the region as well. We’ve been clear. The president’s been clear-- and I have been clear right here-- that if this doesn’t stop, then we will respond. And so we maintain the right to respond. We have the capability to do that. And we will respond at a time and place of our choosing.
Well, that’s reassuring! After just 20 or so attacks, we’ve increased our “force protection posture!” Yay! That oughta show ‘em! And we’ve deployed a number of “assets” into the region. And, by golly, we maintain the right to respond! And we are capable of doing that, we’ll have you know! Moreover, if these incessant rocket attacks that have wounded so many of our troops don’t stop, we will respond! At a time and place of our choosing! Maybe even this year—and in the Middle East somewhere and against Iranian-backed entities of some kind! Possibly militarily! So there!
Translation: don’t mess with Uncle Sam or we might misgender you… or cut off sales of essential oils, perfumes, cosmetics, and toiletries to you! ($651,120 in 2022!)
Reports indicate that Iran has attacked U.S. forces at least 28 times in recent days. 28 times! Another 28 or so and we’ll respond! Maybe. How embarrassing.
Hamas butchered more than 30 American citizens. Another baker’s dozen or so are unaccounted for, likely being held hostage inside Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza. Yet the Biden administration hasn’t seriously or effectively pressured Hamas to return them. Disgusting. The Biden administration is, however, constantly pressuring Israel to be measured—or “proportionate”—in its response to the Hamas terrorist attacks.
I am anything but a warmonger. But this isn’t Ukraine. We are talking about repeated direct attacks on American troops. 28 and counting. No other American president, with the exception of Obama, would have been so unconcerned with attacks such as these. (But, what do we expect after the Afghanistan debacle?) Every other one of them, from George Washington to Donald Trump, would have retaliated in one substantive way or another. Though that likely wouldn’t have been necessary, as Iran would have known that, so the attacks probably wouldn’t have occurred in the first place. Does the Biden administration have a bizarre case of Stockholm Syndrome?
Teddy Roosevelt admonished us to “speak softly and carry a big stick.” The Biden administration often yammers on loudly…but can’t even find its twig.
THERE IS NO GREATER DANGER TO THE WORLD THAN SOCIOPATH JOE BIDEN!
Cotton: Israel Should Reject Biden’s Effort to Send Fuel to Hamas
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has accused President Joe Biden of pressuring Israel to give fuel to Hamas, which would benefit from any supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip, and has urged the Israeli government to reject the president’s efforts.
Cotton made the accusation in two posts on Twitter/X on Wednesday:
Hamas is known to hoard fuel and other necessities that are intended for civilian use. As NBC News reported on Wednesday:
As U.N. officials say hospitals in Gaza are running dangerously low on fuel, Hamas is maintaining a stockpile of more than 200,000 gallons of fuel for the rockets it fires into Israel and the generators that provide clean air and electricity to its network of underground tunnels, according to U.S. officials, current and former Israeli officials and academics.
…
Hamas, meanwhile, has repeatedly demanded fuel deliveries to Gaza during negotiations to allow foreign nationals to leave the enclave and in talks about the release of 240 people it kidnapped.
It is thought to have several months’ worth of fuel stored in its network of tunnels beneath Gaza, which it could release to the civilian population if it wanted to do so. But the terror organization does not concern itself with the welfare of Palestinian civilians, whom Hamas considers Israel’s and the UN’s responsibility in any case.
Israel also recently produced evidence that Hamas is stealing fuel from the hospitals in Gaza.
As Breitbart News has reported, the Biden administration is also pressuring Israel for a “pause” in fighting, which it claims is different from a “ceasefire.” The purpose of the “pause” would ostensibly be to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to facilitate the release of hostages, yet neither of these activities is directly threatened by Israel’s military activities. The real purpose of the “pause” would appear to be to appease Biden’s angry Arab- and Muslim-American supporters in key swing states like Michigan.
Cotton accused Biden of mincing words:
Cotton’s argument is supported by the fact that the word “pause” translates into Hebrew in a way that is similar to the word for “ceasefire,” such that an Israeli news reader had to explain the difference.
Sen. Cotton has not been shy about telling foreign governments to oppose what he considers bad policies by his own government. In 2015, he wrote to Iran, warning it that President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal would not bind future U.S. governments because it had not been ratified by the Senate, as required by the U.S. Constitution.
Others have also faulted Biden for sending $100 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza, knowing it might be seized by Hamas, while threatening to veto a funding bill to support Israel’s war effort if that legislation is not also tied to funding for the war in Ukraine.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Ted Cruz Slams Joe Biden’s ‘Obscene’ Call for a Humanitarian ‘Pause’ in Gaza, Accuses Admin of Funding Hamas Massacre
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called out President Joe Biden’s “obscene” gesture in calling for a humanitarian “pause” in the Israel-Hamas war, in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is mounting a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Cruz, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accused the president of having “poured hundreds of millions of dollars toward Hamas, which then massacred 1,400 Israelis and dozens of Americans.”
He noted Biden is “pressuring Israel to stand down so Hamas can regroup.”
“He’s even pressuring Israel to send more fuel to the Gaza Strip, which Hamas will seize and use to attack Israel,” he added.
On Wednesday, the IDF released an audio recording of a phone call it says was between the manager of a hospital, the commander of a Hamas battalion, and a citizen in Gaza, in which the Hamas terrorist admits to taking fuel from the hospital.
WATCH: Hamas Caught on Phone Call Admitting to Stealing Fuel from Hospitals
Israel Defense ForcesThe matter follows President Biden’s call for a humanitarian “pause” in the Israel-Hamas war while speaking to a crowd of supporters in Minneapolis about what motivated him to run for president.
After a woman interrupted him by shouting for a cease-fire, Biden said he understood her emotions and emphasized that his call for a pause in the war meant allowing “time to get the prisoners out.”
The White House later clarified that the president’s call for a “pause” meant for humanitarian reasons.
The president has “faced intensifying pressure from human rights groups, fellow world leaders and even liberal members of his own Democratic Party, who say that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza is collective punishment and that it is time for a cease-fire,” as noted by the Associated Press.
The outlet explained:
In his comments, Biden was exerting pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give Palestinians at least a brief reprieve from the relentless military operation that’s left thousands dead and mired the 141-square-mile strip in a roiling humanitarian crisis.
ISRAEL FIGHTS TERROR: Is Israel’s Response to Hamas Legal and Justified?
Joel PollakIn October, a senior political official in the Palestinian Hamas terror organization told Lebanese television that the group intends to repeat its October 7 terror attack — the worst terrorist attack in the Jewish state’s history — until Israel is annihilated.
The massacre saw some 2,500 terrorists burst into Israel by land, sea, and air and gun down participants at an outdoor music festival as others went door-to-door hunting for Jewish men, women, and children in local towns who were then subject to torture, rape, execution, immolation, and kidnapping.
The attack resulted in more than 1,400 dead inside the Jewish state, over 5,300 more wounded, and at least 240 hostages of all ages taken.
The vast majority of the victims are civilians and include dozens of American citizens.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Horror of the Hamas Terror Attack on Civilians at Kibbutz Be’eri in Israel
Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart NewsIn October, Cruz accused the Biden administration of having funded Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack in Israel “in a very real and concrete way.”
He also warned that President Biden has boosted the Iranian threat to both America and the world while calling to cut off all funds the current administration is “flowing to Gaza” and, instead, “stand unequivocally with Israel.”
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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