GOP blaming Biden for the Hamas terrorist attack is not only vile--it's helping Hamas
GOP only denounces terrorism when helps them politically
“There is no bottom to today’s GOP.”
I should post that line on my computer so I’m not shocked in the future when the GOP again does something despicable. But on the other hand, I don’t want to ever become numb to the vileness that defines so much of today’s Republican party.
The latest episode of the GOP’s despicableness came after the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians that has left more than 1,000 people dead—from young people attending a music festival to a revered older woman who was known as a peace activist trying to help Palestinians. Instead of focusing on the Hamas terrorists who perpetrated this barbaric act, Donald Trump and other Republicans spewed lies to blame President Biden.
The GOP’s vileness of course starts at the top with Trump—who is out on bail— when he posted on social media that it was “Joe Biden’s ineptitude, weakness, and incompetence has led to this horrible attack on Israel.” Of course, this is the same Trump who in 2017 shared classified information about Israel in the Oval Office with Russian officials causing many to suggest that this information many have assisted the Iran backed Hamas given the close relationship between Russia and Iran.
2024 GOP presidential candidate Tim Scott then took the smear of Biden to new lows claiming on social media that: “Biden’s weakness invited the attack. Biden’s negotiation funded the attack. Biden admin wanted Israel to stand down after the attack.” He added, “At this point, Biden is complicit.”
Biden never told the Israeli military to “stand down after the attack.” That is a despicable lie and Scott knows it. In reality, Biden quickly committed to provide the Israeli military with support and additional military aid. As the NY Times reported, “President Biden told Mr. Netanyahu in a call on Sunday that military assistance is on its way to Israel and more will follow in the days ahead.”
Scott’s other lie that Biden somehow funded the attack was also repeated by other Republicans. Ron DeSantis claimed the attack was because Biden’s “policies that have gone easy on Iran” and he “helped to fill their coffers.” Even worse was Chris Christie who stated the Hamas attack was Biden’s fault for appeasing Israeli’s enemies, adding, “This terrorism is funded by Biden’s idiotic release of $6 billion to the Iranians.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who is running for House speaker, wrote in a message on social media: “The Biden administration must be held accountable for its appeasement of these Hamas terrorists, including handing over billions of dollars to them and their Iranian backers.”
So Scalise wants to hold Biden accountable for the Hamas terrorist attack?!
Let’s quickly destroy the GOP’s repeated lie that Biden provided funds to Iran that helped Hamas. The Biden administration did recently agree to a prisoner exchange with Iran to secure the release of five Americans who had been detained by Tehran.
As part of the deal, the U.S. agreed to allow a transfer of $6 billion of Iranian funds that had been in South Korean banks. Those funds were proceeds from the sale of Iranian oil to South Korea given a 2018 waiver from the Trump administration that allowed South Korea, India, Japan, China and others to continue to purchase oil from Iran. Yes, the Trump administration made many exceptions to our nation’s sanction policies allowing Iran to profit from oil sales despite knowing Iran’s ties to Hamas terrorism. In 2019, the Trump administration finally imposed new sanctions on Iran, causing the $6 billion of Iran’s oil proceeds to be frozen in South Korea’s banks.
Under the deal with Iran, Secretary of State Blinken signed a waiver that provided foreign banks would not be subject to U.S. sanctions for transferring the Iranian funds. The funds were then transferred to Qatar’s central bank and can be used only for humanitarian purchases made by vendors who have been vetted. The United States monitors how the funds are used to ensure they go toward providing food, medicine and other humanitarian needs to ordinary Iranians.
Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence also stated that, “These restricted funds cannot go to Iran — it can only be used for future humanitarian-related purposes. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and misleading.”
Secretary of State Blinken stated Sunday, “as of now, not a single dollar has been spent from that account.” Blinken added pointedly, “It’s very unfortunate that some are playing politics at a time when so many lives have been lost and Israel remains under attack.”
Blinken is 100% correct. The GOP trying to score political points by spewing lies about Biden is wrong and dangerous.
But that didn’t stop Nikki Haley from stating Sunday on Meet the Press that Blinken was “irresponsible” for his insistence that “the $6 billion doesn’t weigh in here.” Again, not a penny of the money has been spent and may never be released if the money is not documented to be used for humanitarian purposes.
Of course, given the GOP is standing shoulder with Trump despite his Jan 6 MAGA terrorist attack, it appears that the Republican party only condemns terrorism when they think it helps them politically. In fact, it makes it more challenging to believe the GOP is sincere in denouncing Hamas terrorism given so many defend Trump's Jan 6 MAGA terrorist attack and promise/demand pardons for the terrorists.
But that aside, the focus of the horrific terrorist attack should be on Hamas. Instead, the GOP is despicably giving cover to the terrorists by trying to make this about President Biden. By doing so, today’s GOP is helping Hamas. Again, a new low for the Republican party—yet I’m sure we are not close to the bottom.
Sadly, I'm old enough to remember a time when our disagreements "stopped at the water's edge" when it came to international conflicts. We tried to put aside our political differences and focus on our shared value and shared defense as Americans.
That is yet another casualty of the hard right turn of the Republican Party and the elevation of MAGA terrorists and their sophists in Congress...
Thanks for this excellent analysis, Dean. Like Trump, these people lie with every breath they take. They are the greatest danger this democracy has faced from within since the Civil War. There’s been some other breaking news, but I’m not sure it’s being widely reported. I’m posting this link to a Substack article by Seth Abramson. He cites reliable sources that indicate Egyptian intelligence officials contacted Netanyahu 10 days before this attack warning them that something “unusual and terrible“ was being planned by Hamas from the Gaza area. The Egyptians were apparently stunned by Netanyahu’s lack of response to and interest in the information.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sethabramson/p/as-israel-reels-from-mass-deaths?r=2vk1c6&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post