U.S. Rep. Debbie Wassermann Schultz wants Biden to ‘clarify’ stance on Israel

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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President Joe Biden’s remarks earlier this week that he would halt some shipments of U.S. weapons if Israel launches a full-scale ground operation into the city of Rafah in south Gaza has ignited a firestorm of criticism among members of the Florida congressional delegation, prompting U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz – a close ally of the president – to issue a statement of her own on Friday afternoon.

“President Biden has been ironclad in his commitment to Israel over the last seven months,” the South Florida Democrat said. “His administration must stay the course and avoid any impression that our support is wavering.”

“The president should clarify his stance publicly and the U.S. and Israel should resolve this miscommunication privately,” she added.

Biden told CNN on Wednesday night that while his administration has been supportive up until now of Israel’s military engagement in Gaza to attempt to eradicate Hamas, he was putting conditions on providing military support if Israel Defense Forces were to invade Rafah.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said, adding that the U.S. would continue supplying defensive weapons to Israel.

That comment prompted Central Florida-area Republican Congressman Cory Mills on Thursday to announce on X that he would submit impeachment articles on Friday because Biden was using “the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and its ally Israel.”

And it prompted Wasserman Schultz, who in 2004 became the first Jewish woman ever elected to represent Florida in Congress, to respond Friday in a statement that while she shares Biden’s “concerns for Palestinian civilians used as human shields and understand the risks posed by a full-scale invasion of Rafah,” she also stressed that “Hamas is eager to sacrifice as many Palestinian lives as possible and wants to maximize the civilian toll of this operation as part of their cowardly PR campaign.”

“While I was relieved to hear that the Administration has no plans to block weapons necessary to conduct Israel’s operation in Rafah, I worry that this public discourse could embolden Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other Iran allied partners.  It also may be detrimental to ongoing hostage negotiations,” she said. “I spoke with senior national security White House officials yesterday and I was assured that President Biden remains committed to defeating Hamas and defending Israel, as he did directly as our Commander-in-Chief by ordering U.S. forces to take down Iranian suicide drones targeting Israel.”

Wasserman Schultz is delicately trying to balance her concerns about the president’s comments regarding Israel, but Republican U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott have no such qualms.

“President Biden’s decision to withhold arms to Israel is a gift to Hamas. We must stand with Israel,” Rubio wrote on X on Friday.

“Biden’s foreign policy decisions only create chaos and end in disaster, especially in the Middle East,” Scott said Thursday. “We should be standing with our great friend and democratic ally, Israel. Instead, he has us pleasing and appeasing Hamas-supporting countries who hate us and sending them weapons!”

While Wasserman Schultz is asking for the president to clarify his stance on Israel, other congressional Democrats haven’t been shy in expressing their criticism. CNN reported Thursday that Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, and Jon Tester, D-Montana, have said that they disagreed with Biden’s plan to withhold some weapons shipments to Israel.

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