Israel’s U.N. Envoy: Biden Makes American Jews ‘Hesitant’ to Vote Democrat

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, condemned President Joe Biden’s refusal to support Israel’s self-defense actions against Hamas in southern Gaza, calling them “difficult and very disappointing” in an interview on Thursday.

Erdan suggested that Biden describing a potential operation against Hamas in Rafah as “just wrong” in a recent CNN interview could jeopardize his support among American Jewish voters.

“Of course any pressure on Israel is interpreted by our enemies as something that gives them hope,” Erdan said in remarks to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN. “There are many Jewish Americans who voted for the president and for the Democratic Party, and now they are hesitant.”

Erdan is one of several Israeli officials reacting with outrage to Biden’s comments, which appeared during Wednesday night’s edition of the CNN program Outfront.

“Israel will continue to fight Hamas until it is destroyed. There is no more just war than this,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote in a social media message following the interview. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote, simply, “Hamas [heart emoji] Biden.”

RELATED: Lloyd Austin Admits U.S. Withholding Arms to Israel over Rafah

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Biden was asked in the controversial interview to remark on the Israeli government’s decision to engage in operations in Rafah, the southernmost point of the Gaza strip, which Hamas controls. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been engaged in self-defense operations in Gaza since October, when it declared war against the jihadist terror organization Hamas in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel by the group.

Rafah connects Gaza to Egypt and has served as a critical strategic point for Hamas’s terrorist operations. Hamas terrorists used their position to attack Israel on Sunday, killing four soldiers at a humanitarian aid crossing, Kerem Shalom, with rockets fired from Rafah.

The IDF responded by engaging in an operation in Rafah that swiftly gave Israel control of the border crossing between Rafah and Egypt. Israeli forces used flyers to encourage civilians in the area to evacuate before operations, attempting to minimize any harm to locals.

Speaking to Outfront host Erin Burnett, Biden confirmed that he had begun to limit transfers of American weapons to Israel out of a moral opposition to operations in Rafah.

“I’ve made it clear to Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and the War Cabinet, they’re not going to get our support if, in fact, they go into these population centers,” Biden said, referring to those in Rafah. “We’re not walking away from Israel’s security. We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas.”

“We’ve held up the weapons,” Biden confirmed.

The American president said that he did not consider the action to take control of the Rafah border crossing “go[ing] into Rafah.”

“I made it clear that, if they go into Rafah, they haven’t gone into Rafah yet, if they go into Rafah, I’m not going to supply them the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah,” Biden asserted.

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of the Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks like what came out of the Middle East recently. But it’s just wrong,” Biden concluded, apparently referring to any operations to fully disarm Hamas by targeting Rafah, the terrorists’ last hub in Gaza remaining after six months of IDF operations.

Biden’s strident tone against one of America’s most consistent allies contrasted significantly from remarks issued a day before the Outfront interview in which he honored the victims of the Holocaust and lamented the lack of emphasis on the atrocities of October 7 in current discussions of Israel. On that day, Hamas terrorists killed an estimated 1,200 people – including entire families tortured and killed in their homes – and engaged in gang rape, the desecration of corpses, and the killing of children as young as infants.

“Now, here we are, not 75 years later but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting,” Biden said on Tuesday. “They’re already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror, that it was Hamas that brutalized Israelis, that it was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages.”

“I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget,” Biden promised, the day before he suggested neutralizing Hamas’s ability to use Rafah for terrorist activity was “just wrong.”

RELATED: Never Again — Jewish Law Student in Texas Describes Surviving October 7 in Israel

Randy Clark / Breitbart Texas

 

The Biden administration has struggled to adapt its policies and messaging regarding the post-October 7 conflict in the context of the 2024 presidential election. The Democrat Party is facing nationwide pressure from radical leftist voters, young Democrats, and Muslim-American groups to abandon America’s traditional alliance with Israel, which translated into a campaign to deny Biden votes symbolically in several Midwestern Democrat primaries.

“Muslim Americans have come together finally to state in completely clear terms that the position of the Biden administration … is a red line for all Muslim Americans,” Hassan Abdel Salam, the head of a movement called the #AbandonBiden National Coalition, said in December, referring to Biden’s comments lending Israel support after October 7.

A movement to vote “uncommitted” in Democrat primaries this year markedly altered the results of the primaries in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin this year. As of April, over 500,000 Democrats have issued some form of protest vote against Biden in state primary elections.

Radical leftists celebrated Biden’s Outfront interview as a victory.

“This is what young people across the country were protesting for and finally the needle has moved in a significant way, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), wrote on social media. “I hope we see more progress, but don’t ever let people tell you that your voices are meaningless and your actions are worthless. The arc of what is possible is always within us to bend.”

Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was a participant in the pro-Hamas occupation of Columbia University and was suspended and arrested from her college for her disruption of the normal course of activity on campus.

“President Biden enforcing conditions on US military aid and holding the Israeli gov to the same bar we hold all our allies to is the responsible, secure, and just thing to do,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said, celebrating Biden’s “historic shift.”

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