Pentagon Suspends Congressional Travel to Israel

The Pentagon is suspending Congressional flights to Israel as the war with Hamas in Gaza escalates.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin put out a memo recently temporarily suspending travel by members of Congress to the region as Israel continues its retaliatory military strikes in the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7 attacks by the terrorist organization Hamas in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 people were taken hostage.

According to the report, Austin said in the memo that the Pentagon could not support providing aircraft and other aid for Congressional trips to Israel.

"I further discourage visits to Israel requiring DOD support by members of Congress and their staffs," the National Review reported Austin writing in the Oct. 31 memo. "I hereby instruct the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs to inform the appropriate congressional leadership that DOD support to congressional delegation visits will be unavailable to Israel during this period, and no DOD support shall be made available for congressional travel to Israel without my approval."

Although travel is restricted for members of Congress, the Pentagon will still provide travel support for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Austin, and other top military officials.

"These restrictions also do not apply to travel by the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretaries of the Military Departments, or Service Chiefs," the memo reads.

More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began the retaliatory strikes and is mounting a ground invasion of Gaza.

Complicating matters, Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah has also been trading fire with Israel along the northern border and is threatening to join the conflict.

"For those who say that Hezbollah should start a war in the entire region, I say wait. These are the beginnings," the Review reported Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah saying in a televised speech on Friday. "More actions will be taken against Israel from several different fronts, and this issue will become more obvious in the next few days."

Nasrallah also took aim at the U.S. for its role in the conflict, blaming the deaths of Palestinian civilians promising revenge against America.

"Let me be clear, the United States is just as responsible," he said in the report. "Americans have to pay; they have to pay for Israel's slaughter."

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