Nice work, President Joe Biden.
Barely two months ago, your administration announced a plan to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets as part of a prisoner swap with Tehran. That was a bad idea then — and it became a worse idea over the weekend, when Iran announced it stood behind Hamas after its massive attack on Israel.
Now, it turns out that not only did Iran back Hamas with its words, it helped the terrorist group plan its assault on the Jewish state from its base of operations in the Gaza Strip, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The news comes as The Associated Press is reporting at least 1,100 are confirmed dead as of Sunday, more than 600 on the Israeli side. And we likely won’t know the full extent of the damage that the rocket attacks and invasion caused for many days now.
On Sunday, the Journal reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been working with Hamas for months on devising the attack from air, land and sea.
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Not only that, the Journal reported, but Iranian officials “gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.”
“Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said.”
However, Biden administration officials said they hadn’t seen evidence of involvement by the Iranian government.
“We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an appearance on CNN Sunday.
Does Biden have a link to the massacre in Israel?
Yes: 96% (52 Votes)
No: 4% (2 Votes)
As for the meetings between IRGC brass and Hamas and Hezbollah: “We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account,” an administration official told the Journal.
Nor were officials with Hamas or Iran about to give or take credit: “This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision,” said senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mirdawi, according to the Journal.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said that “decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people … We are not involved in Palestine’s response, as it is taken solely by Palestine itself.”
However, the Journal was able to get an unnamed European official who backed up the account of Iran both training Hamas terrorists and giving the go-ahead for the attack on Israel.
If that’s true, President Biden will have a lot to answer for.
As Fox News noted, Republicans in Congress began tearing into Biden for the decision to unfreeze $6 billion in funds to Iran in September as part of a prisoner swap.
“Just weeks ago, the Biden administration handed over $6 billion to Iran, and today, innocent Israelis were murdered by Iran-backed terrorists,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said in a statement.
“We must continue to support our strongest ally in the Middle East and their right to defend themselves against these unprovoked, horrific attacks.”
In a post on social media — accompanied by a clip of him lambasting the administration on Fox News — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called the attack “a grotesque act of war” and said it was “infuriating … that it was paid for by Joe Biden sending billions to Iran and even millions directly into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.”
What Hamas is doing is a grotesque act of war. What is infuriating is that it was paid for by Joe Biden sending billions to Iran and even millions directly into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The State Dept. even knew those millions would fund terrorism – but they sent it… pic.twitter.com/0SmUckUnSY
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 8, 2023
“Biden just gave Hamas sponsor Iran $6 billion. Today, innocent Israeli citizens have paid with their lives for his and the Obama holdovers’ venal incompetence,” Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina wrote in a social media post.
“America must unflinchingly support Israel’s right of self defense in all its fullness. God bless and save Israel.”
Biden just gave Hamas sponsor Iran $6 billion. Today, innocent Israeli citizens have paid with their lives for his and the Obama holdovers’ venal incompetence.
America must unflinchingly support Israel’s right of self defense in all its fullness. God bless and save Israel.
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) October 7, 2023
However, the administration insisted that it had only unfrozen the funds to be used for humanitarian purposes.
“Let’s be clear: the deal to bring U.S. citizens home from Iran has nothing to do with the horrific attack on Israel. Not a penny has been spent, and when it is, it can only go for humanitarian needs like food and medicine. Anything to the contrary is false,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Not a penny has been spent, and it will never go to Iran—it can only be used for future humanitarian-related purposes. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and misleading,”
However, while that money can only be directly used for humanitarian aid, it frees up money Iran would otherwise be on the hook for. And, if the Iranian government were looking to trim the belt somewhere, it could start with the estimated $100 million a year the U.S. State Department says the Iranian government gives Palestinian extremist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
And now, the administration that Biden unfroze $6 billion for? It’s alleged to have been behind the planning of the most serious attack on Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This is what happens when people like Joe Biden act like we can reason with unreasonable, unruly, untrustworthy governments like the one in Tehran.
He’s now two degrees of separation away from this attack on one of our closest allies.
