Senator Marco Rubio accused the Biden administration of leaking the president’s call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a way to appeal to anti-Semitic supporters.
An Axios report on Saturday night detailed that Joe Biden told Netanyahu in their call that the United States would not engage in counterstrikes against Iran.
Rubio claims that this aspect of the call was intentionally leaked by the White House to please “anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and pro-terrorist elements” in the Democratic Party.
“They know Israel is going to respond; they know that for a fact,” Rubio told CNN’s State of the Union host Jake Tapper on Sunday. ‘So why would the White House leak it?’
Senator Marco Rubio said President Biden’s team leaked details of his call to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to appeal to “anti-Semitic” Democrats who don’t want the United States to help the Jewish state defend itself against Iran.
Rubio says the same calls for an Israeli “ceasefire” in Gaza now celebrate Iran’s attacks. Pictured: Pro-Palestinian protesters gather in Herald Square, New York, on April 12, 2024.
“There’s only one reason they leaked that,” the Republican lawmaker added. “And when Israel responds, the White House can say, ‘We told them not to do it,’ and at least in some way appease these so-called peace activists.”
The Florida senator said the same people calling for an Israeli “ceasefire” against Hamas terrorists in Gaza were the ones applauding the bombing of hundreds of missiles aimed at the Jewish state over the weekend by Iran and its representatives in the Middle East.
Biden and his defense and national security team have insisted support for Israel’s defense is “unwavering” but have said US forces will not launch counterattacks against Iran after Tehran warned it would attack US troops in retaliation. .
Since Saturday, Iran launched at least 300 missiles, drones and other attacks toward Israel, but most were intercepted and shot down before reaching the target country’s airspace.
If Israel launches a counterattack, President Biden has done everything he can to try to distance the United States from such a response, including, Rubio claims, leaking his call with Netanyahu.
Iran and its regional proxies sent a barrage of at least 300 missiles, drones and other strikes toward Israel on Saturday, April 15, 2024.
President Joe Biden met with his National Security team in the White House Situation Room on Saturday amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
‘These ‘ceasefire now’ people who were outside yesterday applauding the launch of hundreds of rockets, drones and missiles against Israel; “The people who are out there applauding military attacks of this scale and scope are not peace activists; they are anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and pro-terrorist elements,” Rubio said.
“And we have to stop calling them peace activists,” he continued. ‘They are not peace activists. It’s not like that…peace activists don’t applaud mass attacks on other countries, which is what they were doing yesterday.’
“So I guess this is part of the White House’s effort to appease them by releasing this so proactively.”