‘Irrational, anti-Israel’: Congressman slams Biden executive order

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) blasted U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday for what the congressman called an “irrational executive order that takes aim at Israelis who are defending themselves from a radical terrorist organization by instituting economic sanctions on them.”

Earlier in the day, Biden announced sanctions on four Israelis and announced a “national emergency” due to what he called “intolerable levels” of “extremist settler violence.” The president claimed that violence “constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel and the broader Middle East region.”

“These actions undermine the foreign-policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity and freedom,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the “overwhelming majority” of residents in Judea and Samaria are law-abiding. “Israel acts against all Israelis who break the law, everywhere,” he said. “Exceptional measures are unnecessary.”

Duncan, the South Carolina Republican, agreed.

“Joe Biden’s fallacious executive order against our ally Israel is another foreign policy failure by the Biden administration,” he stated. “The commander-in-chief should unequivocally stand with our ally Israel as they exercise their right to self-defense and fight back against Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, who believe Israel does not have the right to exist—the same cowardly terrorists that kill Americans, behead babies and kidnap children.”

“This is another example in the long line of Biden’s foreign policy failures,” the congressman added. “Mr. President, why do you continually choose to endanger the lives of Americans, turn your back on America’s allies and choose to go easy on or cooperate with terrorist regimes?”