Update May 19: Rep. Elise Stefanik addressed some Israeli lawmakers in Parliament.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York will be the highest-ranking House Republican to address lawmakers in Israel’s parliament on Sunday since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in which she is expected to forcefully rebuke President Biden and his Democratic colleagues party as the true allies of the Jewish state.
Ms. Stefanik’s speech comes as Biden’s White House calls on Israel to end the war in Gaza, and it builds on Republicans’ political strategy of exploiting Democrats’ differences over Israel’s response to the terror attacks.
That strategy, implemented in Congress over the past six months, included a largely symbolic vote in the House on Thursday aimed at censuring Mr. Biden for suspending an arms shipment to Israel and forcing his administration to to deliver these weapons quickly.
Mr. Biden recently suspended military aid because of concerns that Israel would use the weapons in Rafah, a crowded city in southern Gaza. The administration has also told Congress that it plans to sell more than $1 billion worth of new weapons to Israel.
“I have been clear at home, and I will be clear here,” Ms. Stefanik is expected to say in her speech, according to a prepared version of her remarks reviewed by The New York Times. “There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel.”
Her comments also appear designed to curry favor with former President Donald J. Trump, who has mentioned Ms. Stefanik, a former White House adviser to George W. Bush and a staunch defender of Mr. Trump, as a potential vice presidential candidate.
While a time-honored adage in American politics says that partisanship ends at the water’s edge, Ms. Stefanik’s comments could help bolster her loyalty to the former president by showing little concern for the principles and decency behind this unwritten rule.
Ms. Stefanik has positioned herself as one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress, a role she first staked out during his first impeachment trial in 2019. Her prepared remarks for Sunday mentioned Mr. Trump by name three times while highlighting several of his administration’s achievements, including a package of Middle East agreements known as the Abraham Accords and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
“We cannot allow extremism in elite corners to obscure the American people’s deep, abiding love for Israel,” Ms. Stefanik wants to say. “Americans feel a strong connection to their people. They opened their hearts to you in this dark hour.”
In addition to her remarks in the Jerusalem Hall of the Knesset, Ms. Stefanik will meet with Israeli officials, visit religious sites and tour sites that were victims of the October 7 attacks.
Ms. Stefanik has played a prominent role in congressional investigations into anti-Semitism on college campuses. Her questioning of the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania ultimately led to their resignations and gave Ms. Stefanik her biggest star appearance in this Congress.
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2024-05-20 15:17:51
www.nytimes.com
