Senate Republicans showed their unified support for providing aid to Israel as their Democratic counterparts squabble over calls for a ceasefire in a video exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The video, which the Senate GOP will share on social media, highlights the rising number of anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses and in American cities since Hamas’s terrorist attacks that have left at least 1,400 Israelis and at least 30 Americans dead. Senate Republicans, the video shows, believe it is the nation’s duty to defend the Jewish state as it undertakes its largest military excursion in decades.
The timing of the video, released one month after Hamas’s invasion of Israel, comes as Democrats are increasingly divided on whether Israel should halt its counter-offensive in the Gaza Strip. The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan $14.3 billion aid bill for Israel earlier this month, but Senate Democrats say it has no chances of passing because it is financed by cuts to recently appropriated funds for the Internal Revenue Service.
"When the United States had been fired upon, Pearl Harbor, for example, nobody around here was talking about a ceasefire," Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) said in the video.
Since Israel’s military response in Gaza, U.S. servicemen have been under attack at their bases in Iraq and Syria. At least 45 members of the military have been injured by rocket barrages and drone strikes from Iranian-backed militia groups in the Middle East.
Since Oct. 17, there have been at least 38 attacks on U.S. military bases in the Middle East. The Biden administration has responded with a small number of targeted strikes.
"Iran is directly behind these attacks. You know why they're behind him? Cause they do not believe Joe Biden will do anything about it, and why should they?" Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said in the video.
At least 14 Democratic senators, including Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), have called for Israel to stop its invasion of Gaza. The Israeli government has rejected those calls, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying on Monday that a deal cannot be made with Hamas until the Islamic terrorist group releases its more than 200 hostages.