Sen. Tom Cotton criticized President Joe Biden for threatening to withhold offensive weapons from Israel if it carries out a large incursion into Rafah, telling CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that "Israel's probably doing more than any military in history to avoid civilian casualties."
The Arkansas Republican stressed that the Israeli army needs "to go into Rafah. Joe Biden's position is de facto for Hamas victory at this point. Israel's goal is to destroy Hamas, which committed the worst atrocity against Jews since World War II.
"Hamas' goal is to survive. If Israel does not go into Rafah and destroy Hamas in Rafah, Hamas will survive."
He also emphasized that "if Hamas did not hide behind and under civilians, there would not be civilian casualties. For that matter, if Hamas simply surrendered and turned over all these hostages, there would be no more civilian suffering in Gaza."
Cotton added that Israel is specifically in need of the large bombs that Biden threatens to withhold, "because Hamas has tunnels ... where its leaders are holed up, deeply underground" and that the U.S. administration is "also potentially delaying the kits that allow the so-called dumb bombs to become smart precision bombs."
Cotton also rejected that Biden's decision is similar to one taken by former President Ronald Reagan to pause the delivery of fighter jets in the 1980s, insisting that now "Israel is fighting a war of survival against a terrorist group that committed the worst atrocity against Jews since World War II.
"Ronald Reagan knew that the pause of fighter jets would not interfere with Israel's fighting, because they had plenty of fighters. He did not pause munitions. Joe Biden is not sending munitions in the middle of a shooting war that's a war of survival."
Cotton added that Israel also "knew that Ronald Reagan had its back in the region; he sank half of Iran's navy. Joe Biden has consistently given Iran hundreds of billions of dollars of sanctions relief that exactly funded groups like Hamas and Hezbollah."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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