In The News

By Joel Pollack

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) demanded to know from Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday why the Biden administration was placing conditions on Israel that it was not placing on Ukraine, since both were attacked without provocation.

Ukraine is restricted in its use of some American weapons — for example, it may not use U.S. weapons to launch attacks inside Russian territory (much to the dismay of hawkish organizations such as the Atlantic Council).

However, as Perry pointed out in questioning Blinken at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Biden administration has withheld weapons from Israel in an attempt to deter Israel from attacking Hamas in Rafah.

Rafah is a city in southern Gaza where Hamas has concentrated its last battalions. It is also a strategic location that controls access to the Egyptian border. Israel believes that it is the key to victory against Hamas.

But Blinken and the Biden administration have said for months that the danger to civilians of an attack on Rafah is too great. Blinken said again Wednesday that there are other ways to remove Hamas — and did not elaborate.

Perry noted that the Biden administration had insisted that the Israeli government present a comprehensive plan for postwar Gaza.

Yet he said that the administration had made no such demands on Ukraine with regard to territories liberated from Russian control. Blinken claimed that he had laid out a plan in a recent speech in Ukraine (which focused on democracy and reform).

But as Perry noted, Blinken had not provided details of that plan to Congress.

View original article: https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/05/22/scott-perry-to-blinken-why-put-conditions-on-israel-but-not-ukraine/