Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is calling on the Biden administration to stand with Israel after the weekend attack that saw Iran launch some 300 missiles and drones into Israeli territory.
Grassley, a Republican, says America needs to stick by its commitment to help Israel maintain its peace and security based on the long-standing Camp David Accords, signed in 1978.
“First, it’s in the United States’ interest to support democracy in the Middle East,” Grassley says, “and secondly, it’s necessary to our own national security that we have a friend in such a foul region of the globe.”
Grassley says the reasons those accords were enacted years ago are still very true today. For the large part, he says, the U.S. has chosen peace for decades and earned international credibility.
“Now in this administration, the Biden administration, it’s trying to tell Israel how to run its government, even when to have an election, and how to fight — or not fight — its wars,” Grassley says. “This posture risks our relationship with Israel.”
The White House response sends a signal to other allied nations, Grassley says, that may question how far the United States can be trusted.
“Israel has a right to demonstrate to Iran that Saturday’s attack won’t be tolerated again,” Grassley says. “The United States wouldn’t stand for some other nation telling us how to fight our wars. The United States must stand with Israel to maintain that credibility.”
The weekend airstrike was unprecedented and marks the first time there’s been direct military action between Iran and the Jewish state.