Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) accused the Biden administration of slow walking the delivery of weapons Israel needs to defeat Hamas and end the war in Gaza.
During an interview on CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday, Graham was asked if the United States would be able to secure a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the election in November.
Graham responded by saying it is possible. He, however, noted that the Biden admin “has taken months to negotiate the defense agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United States, holding it over Israel’s head regarding Rafah.”
“One thing I got from this trip was that they still don’t have the weapons they need in Israel to finish off Hamas,” he continued. “So they’re going to be sending me a list of weapons that are being slow walked. So I’m going to bring that up. But yeah, I think we can still do this. July the 24th will be here before you know it, hopefully major military operations will be over against Hamas if we give Israel the weapons they need, and we can sit down and talk about a vision for Gaza and the West Bank that will give security to Israel, hope and prosperity for the Palestinian people, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE involved.”
The lawmaker went on to say that a failure to send weapons to Israel would “be the biggest mistake” the U.S. could make.
Emphasizing the need for Hamas to be defeated, he said, “Let me be straight with you. Hamas would kill everybody [in the U.S.] if they could get here. Israel’s not our enemy, they’re our ally. I want them destroyed so they can never come back to hurt Israel or us. Hezbollah is alive and well. So to those Americans who believe pulling the plug on Israel now makes us safer, you missed a lot. Radical Islam wants to slit the throat of every Jewish person, and your throat too. So no, I want to give weapons they need. The administration’s withholding weapons.”
Pointing out how the U.S. can be affected by the events in the Middle East, he added, “The IDF chief told me he’s never been more worried about a nuclear breakout regarding the Iranians than he is right now. He thinks we’ve lost deterrence. He’s asking for joint military operations with the United States to convince Iran not to dash toward a nuclear weapon. These are the most dangerous times since the ’30s. Don’t make the mistakes of the ’30s.”
According to Israel, the weapons they need to defend themselves are still being slow-walked.
I think normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is still possible, but time is running out.
I’m hopeful and want to help where I can, but we need to give Israel what they need… pic.twitter.com/XQC35xoVPt
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 9, 2024
