POMPEO: Biden & Harris Utterly Fail in the Wake of October 7

One year has passed since the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and the Biden-Harris Administration continues to flounder at home and abroad.  Contrasted with Israel’s decisive action and moral clarity to rid itself of the threat from these terrorist organizations and bring home those taken hostage on October 7, our own leaders’ indecision and weakness over the past year has reinforced the global narrative of American decline – a signal that has been broadcast loud and clear ever since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban amidst a botched withdrawal during this Administration’s first year in office.  If we care about the future of our country and the future of the West, we must stand with the Jewish state, stand with the Jewish people, and stand against the wicked regimes who seek their destruction and ours.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists poured over Israel’s border with Gaza and slaughtered well over a thousand innocent Israelis. Though it was shocking and terrible, we must never forget the barbarity displayed that day.  Husbands and mothers were killed while their children hid. Grandmothers and grandfathers were murdered.  Young people at a music festival were gunned down by thugs.  Many civilians, including Americans, were taken hostage by the terrorist group, and some are still being held today.

The Hamas terrorists who perpetrated these heinous crimes against humanity did so gleefully and at the direction of, and with critical support from, the Iranian regime.  Even President Biden acknowledged two weeks after the attacks that “Iran is … supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region.”  Yet one year later, it is impossible to discern any meaningful shifts in the Biden-Harris Administration’s policy toward Iran.  It continues to refuse to enforce sanctions on Iranian oil.  At the end of the Trump Administration’s tenure, Iran was exporting roughly 400,000 barrels of oil a day.  On the Biden Administration’s watch, that number has grown 5x to over 2 million; and over just a four-month period this year, Iran reaped a profit of nearly $16 billion in oil sales, with much of their oil going to China.

The Administration also undertook absurd efforts to rush aid into Gaza, most of which was stolen by Hamas and placed U.S. service members in harm’s way.  Biden and Harris responded to 200 Iranian missiles being launched at Israel by attempting to restrain Israel in its potential response; and this week, one day after the October 7th anniversary, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed he had reached a “good understanding” with Qatari authorities allowing him to access the $6 billion ransom payment made by the Biden Administration back in 2023.  The consequences of this Administration’s bad policy decisions continue to multiply.

Here was another bad policy decision: Removing the Houthis from the designated terror list.  Far from slowing the civil war in Yemen, this only emboldened and enriched the Houthi rebels, enabling them to cause even more destruction at Iran’s bidding.  Shortly after the heinous October 7th attacks, the Houthis launched their own attacks (with Iran’s guidance and support), sending missiles into Israel and effectively blockading the vital commercial shipping artery of the Red Sea, through which more than 10% of all global trade passes.  The Biden-Harris Administration utterly failed in its efforts to lead a coalition capable of dislodging the Houthis from the trade route, and as a result, total vessel transits in the Red Sea fell 56% year-on-year as of September.  Global shipping prices have risen dramatically as a result, intensifying inflation and even indirectly causing a longshoremen’s strike here at home.  Poor strategy, backwards policy priorities, and weakness don’t just yield bad outcomes abroad; they hit the American people, too.

Just as concerningly, the Biden-Harris Administration has failed to lead with moral clarity in the face of a startling rise in antisemitism here at home.  In the months following the October 7th attacks, protests on college campuses resulted in antisemitic harassment and even attacks on Jewish students, and in the year since the attacks, antisemitic incidents have reached record highs.  Rather than denounce the hate being displayed on college campuses, Biden equivocated, saying that he “also condemn(s) those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians.”  These weak, morally repugnant words failed to send any real message of support to Jewish Americans, and with students now back in school, protests are starting up once more – students and teachers at universities across New York protested against Israel in a particularly gross display on the Oct. 7th anniversary this week.  We need moral clarity from our leaders, but Biden and Harris, afraid of upsetting their far-left base, have consistently bent the knee to the radical antisemites in their own party.

The Western world – of which our civilization and nations are a part – has its roots deep in the Judeo-Christian truth that all men and women are created equal, for we are each created in the image of God.  The Jewish people have carried forward this truth throughout human history, despite terrible suffering and persecution.  Their story is remarkable and important, and each of us has a sacred duty to defend our Jewish neighbors and the Jewish state against vile antisemitism that carries with it a hatred not only for the Jewish people, but for the most fundamental aspects of our culture and civilization as well.  This is why we must stand steadfast with Israel against Iran’s terror, oppose antisemitism here at home, and elect leaders who will do the same.