House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called for a “decisive defeat” of Hamas during a press conference Wednesday ahead of a looming Israeli invasion of the Gazan city Rafah.
Jeffries said he supports President Joe Biden’s pro-Israel stance in the State of the Union address last week but tiptoed around agreeing that invading Rafah, which houses many displaced Palestinians, would be crossing a “red line.”
“I support everything that the president said during the State of the Union address and his general perspective that what we have to do is make sure that Hamas is decisively defeated. It’s a brutal terrorist organization,” Jeffries said. “Unless we defeat Hamas, there is no possibility for just and lasting peace.”
Biden’s red line comment came over the weekend, and he stated the invasion of Rafah would be “crossing a red line” the United States would not be able to support. But the administration has since called for a humanitarian plan to get resources into the city ahead of any invasion.
The Biden administration has been strongly pro-Israel in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, which began after the terrorist organization attacked Israel on Oct. 7. But Democrats on Capitol Hill have been torn between support for Palestinians and Israel, with many on the far left calling for an immediate ceasefire due to the high number of civilian casualties.
Israel has maintained that the invasion of Rafah would be necessary to wipe out Hamas fully, which has been operating through guerilla warfare, which means they blend in with civilians.
“Our commitment, of course, to Israel is ironclad while at the same time making sure that we can get the hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in so that we can help the innocent civilians in Gaza who are in harm’s way through no fault of their own,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries also dismissed any alternative to the Senate’s Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan aid bill that was passed last month and called for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to bring the Senate bill up for a vote in the House.
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“The clock is ticking, and we have to get the bipartisan national security bill over the finish line before we leave town next Friday,” Jeffries said. “It’s reckless to do otherwise.”
The Senate bill was passed in a 70-30 vote that included support from 22 Republicans. Johnson has been supportive of sending more aid to Ukraine amid its war with Russia but has been opposed to the $95 billion price tag on the Senate bill.
