AOC & 'Squad' Take Out Israel's Iron Dome Funding

By 

Jordan Sekulow

|
September 22, 2021

5 min read

Israel

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In a government spending bill, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave in to members of the “Squad,” which includes Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, Jamaal Bowman, Betty McCollum, and Jay Powell. The Democrat Party leadership took 1 billion dollars out of the spending bill that would have gone to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

The Iron Dome is a defensive weapon system for Israel used to de-escalate conflict in the region. When Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel, the Iron Dome missile system was there to protect Israeli citizens. To defund this system is anti-Israel. Without the Iron Dome, Israel will not be able to defend themselves from terrorists.

ACLJ Senior Military Analyst Wes Smith explains the purpose of Israel’s Iron Dome:

It has absolutely no offensive capabilities. . . . Just a few months ago, Hamas fired over 4,000 rockets into Israel. Those Hamas rockets have one purpose and that is to kill Israeli citizens. This group of people in our own Congress do not want Israel to be able to defend themselves. Yet this situation not only saves Israeli’s lives, but Palestinians too. . . . This billion dollars is not just to resupply the rockets. We have a long-term relationship where we share technology and research concerning the Iron Dome. The Iron Dome was originally created by Israeli scientists, what we did because it was so good and better than some of our own anti-missile systems, we joined them for research and development. So, this billion dollars isn’t just for supplies. It is for continued research and development. Because this same system is also what the United States military uses to defend Americans as well. . . . This is not only anti-Israel, it is anti-American.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett explained the hypocrisy to fund the Taliban rather than Israel at a time like this:

I think our listeners need to think about what is happening in the region more globally. Remember the Biden Administration was just saying . . . that the leverage that we have over the Taliban . . . was that the U.S. would provide funding for them. So, I think the fair question to ask these Members of Congress, Speaker Pelosi, and leader Hoyer, is why would you rather fund the Taliban than our greatest ally in the region Israel?

Now that the Biden Administration has allowed the Taliban to take over Afghanistan, the Taliban is seeking to address the United Nations, claiming to represent the Afghan people. The U.N. has to decide if they will recognize the Taliban.

Wes Smith pointed out the insanity of this:

What I find remarkable about this . . . think about the Taliban, which facilitated the attack on America which included NYC and the Twin Towers, would actually have their representative living in NYC being a representative at the United Nations. That is absolutely unbelievable. . . . And what I find troubling today . . . they asked the U.S. Representative to the U.N. how they felt about it – about the Taliban’s petition to have their person recognized and they said at this point the U.S. has no opinion on the Taliban’s nomination of the Rep. to the U.N.

The world is watching the United States cater to the Taliban and abandon our allies. ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison explained the consequences of this cut in the spending bill:

If this goes through and the Iron Dome system is disabled in Israel, this will mean that the Hamas supporters in Gaza, the Hezbollah supporters in Syria and elsewhere will now be on the front lines because the Israelis have pledged to defend their territory by any means necessary. So that means they would have to send in ground troops. There would be more civilian casualties in Gaza . . . and elsewhere. So, at the end of the day, the progressive Hamas caucus has basically declared war if you will not only on the Israelis, but also on the Palestinians. But why? Because the progressives . . . are drowning in their . . . own hatred of Israel and effectively their own hatred . . . of the United States. So, at the end of the day, they want to destroy America’s strongest ally in the Middle East because they believe so strongly in victimhood, they are prepared to see a wider range of bloodshed going forward.

We are going to watch carefully to see if this wrong gets corrected by not eliminating funding for the Israel defense system. The outcome of getting rid of Israel’s defense system is that the people of Israel suffer, and our own national security suffers. The short-term win is the political win for the anti-Israel base of the Left like the “Squad.”

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of the “Squad” forcing Israel’s Iron Dome Funding out of the spending bill in Congress.

Watch the full broadcast below.