Horowitz: Congress should deny Israel’s enemies US taxpayer cash

The Biden administration is reportedly at work on a “security package” for Israel that would be tied to more billions in aid to Ukraine. Joe Biden is attempting to parlay strong pro-Israel sentiment on the right into funding for Ukraine while distracting from the real cause of — and solution to — the latest war in Israel.

Hamas is not a funding or a resource problem. Hamas is a policy problem. The Biden administration has funded Israel’s enemies on several fronts. The United States has even shifted some weaponry, including some 300,000 artillery shells, from Israel to Ukraine. Now Biden wants to throw money at the other side of the war his policies helped start. He has no problem giving money to Israel so long as he can continue to steer Jerusalem into suicidal security policies.

The answer isn’t to send Israel more aid. The solution, rather, is to stop funding all these proxy wars and stop dictating Israel’s housing and security decisions. Israel would benefit from less U.S. interference, not more aid with unacceptable conditions attached. One such condition was Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, which set the stage for last weekend’s massacres.

In short, Israel needs to tell the Biden administration to “keep your money and butt out” as it dismantles Hamas. Republicans in Congress should support that direction as the most pro-Israel policy that also puts America first.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken originally posted a call for a ceasefire before Israel even responded to Saturday’s attacks. He deleted the post, but it’s clear the administration would force Israel into some kind of truce in exchange for any aid package. In fact, Hamas and Hezbollah are heavily armed because of the Iran deal Obama and Biden cut with their benefactors in Tehran, culminating with the $6 billion in cash Biden agreed to release to Iran a few weeks ago in exchange for U.S. hostages.

Also, let’s not forget that part of the reason why Israel is in such disarray is that the Biden administration just funded what is essentially a color revolution among its people against the sitting government. In response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s modest proposal for judicial reform to tackle Israel’s long-standing judicial oligarchy, the Biden administration fomented a soft coup to try to elect a leftist government.

What this means is that any money sent to Jerusalem will be used to inhibit Israel’s ability to defend herself. As such, Republicans looking to stand with Israel without distracting from our own border invasion and further drain our own munitions should simply focus on defunding Biden’s policies inimical to Israel’s security rather than funding new policies. This includes:

• Cutting off several hundred million in grants to the Palestinian Authority and other international NGOs funding the so-called Palestinians.
• Terminating all funding for the Lebanese Armed Forces, which is a puppet of Hezbollah.
• Prohibiting all funding for State Department officials to carry out the provisions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as “the Iran deal.”
• Pulling U.S. troops out of Syria. The 1,000 or so troops remain sitting ducks in close proximity to many enemies — all without any strategic vision. Their presence also complicates any Israeli plan to strike Hezbollah in Syria when necessary for fear of U.S. soldiers being collateral damage.
• Ending all aid to any state actor supporting Hamas, which includes our supposed allies like Qatar and Iraq. A number of supposed pro-Israel neoconservatives pushed us into supporting regime change in Iraq and then relying on Qatar for the endless war we should never have fought. This created a seamless alliance between those nations and Iran, which actually harmed Israel more than when Saddam Hussein was in power. The “less is more” approach in the Middle East is not only an exercise in "America first" foreign policy but also gives Israel fewer headaches.

In short, Congress needs to deal with the Biden administration with an approach of addition by subtraction. We need to defund bad policies. If those policies are neutralized, then the Israelis should have what they need to get the job done. God will do the rest. “Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).

What we can’t afford, however, is to get into a bidding war with Biden over Israel and Ukraine and allow support for Israel to become a hostage to bad policies.

Republican supporters of Israel who want to continue endless funding for Ukraine can’t have it both ways. Taking a strong stand for Israel should not require treating it like another Ukraine or pouring additional billions into the Ukraine war. We should simply get the Biden administration’s boot off Israel’s neck.

Finally, while Republicans add defunding terrorists to their budget to-do list, they need to turn their attention to our own border so we don’t become like Israel in the near future. Those gruesome images of Hamas’s atrocities are awfully similar to the handiwork of the Mexican cartels, which the media refuses to show. Let’s keep our money and focus on our security, cheer on Israel and get out of her hair, and stay out of most other regional fights.