White House opposes standalone Israel funding bill

The White House announced on Monday it would oppose a bill to fund Israel security if it did not include the president’s requests for aid to Taiwan and Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby threw cold water on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to introduce a stand-alone bill funding Israel following the attacks from Iran over the weekend, saying it would not get President Joe Biden’s backing.

“We would oppose a stand-alone bill that would just work on Israel,” said Kirby.

The comments provide a clear signal to congressional Democrats that they should vote against the measure should it be brought to the floor. Already, the party had been urging Johnson to bring up the Senate bill that included all of President Biden’s national security supplemental request.

Kirby’s comments came just minutes after Biden on Monday reiterated his administration’s commitment to Israel after Iranian attacks against it were thwarted over the weekend.

“Together with our partners, we defeated that attack,” the president said before a bilateral meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shyaa Al-Sudani on Monday.

In his first public remarks since the operation on Saturday, Biden also addressed the war in Gaza, saying he was “committed to a ceasefire” between Hamas and Israel with hopes that it would bring the remaining hostages being held back home.

In the briefing, Kirby said that the United States received no warning from Iran about the attacks or “messages from anybody that offered a specific timeframe or specific set of targets or the types of weapons that they were going to fire.” He said that “the Israeli government will make its own decision regarding if and how to respond.”

Kirby called the messaging from Iran following the weekend attacks: “Monday morning quarterbacking, and woulda, coulda, shouldas.” He said the nation was trying to make it appear they’d launched “some sort of small pinprick of an attack, and that they never meant to succeed” when, in fact, they had failed to cause the damage they intended.

The White House has been careful to keep a low profile following Saturday’s attack, largely in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and not further provoke Iran, according to White House aides.

Appearing alongside Biden, Al-Sudani also said that his government wanted to stop the conflict in the Middle East from expanding. He addressed the crisis in Gaza too, saying he was “very eager about stopping this war which claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, including women and children.”

The Biden administration has made it clear to Israel that it would not support an offensive counter-strike on Iran should Israel choose that road after the attack. On a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend, Biden said that he should “take the win.”

Iran, for its part, has said it considers the situation settled, unless there is a counterattack from Israel.

“At this point, the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention of continuing defensive operations, but if necessary it will not hesitate to protect its legitimate interests against any new aggression,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian posted on social media.