Stefanik spoke before a caucus of Israel’s parliament focused on antisemitism on college campuses around the world. She called for Hamas to be wiped « off the face of the earth. »
One of the Republican Party’s leaders in the U.S. House, Representative Elise Stefanik, addressed a caucus of Israel’s parliament on Sunday, where she called for full military aid to support the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Stefanik, who represents a conservative district in northern New York, said the U.S. should supply « the state of Israel with what it needs, when it needs it, without conditions to achieve total victory in the face of evil. »
Writing on social media, Stefanik framed the speech as a rebuke to President Joe Biden, who curbed delivery of some weapons to Israel amid growing concern over the humanitarian crisis and civilian deaths in Gaza.
Speaking with CNN earlier this month, Biden said he would withhold bombs and artillery shells if Israel escalated fighting in Rafah, a city in Gaza where large numbers of Palestinian refugees have gathered.
« If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, » Biden said.
The Biden administration withheld a shipment of 2,000 pound bombs to Israel, but later announced plans to move forward with $1 billion in military aid.
