Israel

January 17th, 2024

The Biden administration moved to reapply sanctions this week on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, but did so under a weaker federal statute that will not criminalize support for the terrorist group or force American banks to seize their assets, current and former U.S. officials told the Washington Free Beacon.

After months of Houthi attacks on U.S. and Western ships in the Middle East, the Biden administration announced late Tuesday that it will be placing the Houthis on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list, which applies a range of new sanctions on the group, effective Feb. 16.

This designation, however, is significantly weaker than the one applied by the Trump administration, which labeled the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a far more stringent classification that criminalized all support for the militant group and forced U.S. banks to seize the group’s funds. Upon entering office in 2021, the Biden administration removed the Houthis from the FTO list as a gesture of good will toward Iran as it pursued diplomacy with the hardline regime.

The Iran-backed, Yemen-based militant group has been wreaking havoc in the Middle East for months, attacking Western military and commercial ships in a show of support for Hamas’s war on Israel. The attacks have drawn a tepid U.S. response that has included limited U.S. retaliatory strikes on the group’s infrastructure, prompting accusations from Republican lawmakers and former officials that the Biden administration is scared of confrontation with Iran and its terrorist proxies. Tuesday’s designation followed weeks of public pressure from Congress but is already generating criticism for being issued under a weaker federal statute.

“This is a bait and switch,” Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and sanctions expert who served on the White House National Security Council, told the Free Beacon. “Get the media to write they’re listing the Houthis as a terrorist group while obscuring the decision not to relist the group as a foreign terrorist organization. They know FTO status would put maximalist pressure on the Houthis—which is why they won’t do it.”

Faced with questions about the Biden administration’s decision to pursue a weaker designation, a senior official told reporters on Wednesday that the Specially Designated Global Terrorist listing will give the administration “better flexibility” to pump U.S. aid money into war-torn Yemen and ensure “there aren’t unintended consequences for the humanitarian situation and the people of Yemen.”

“We believe that the SDGT designation is the appropriate tool at the moment to pressure the Houthis,” the administration official said. “I think we are always trying to make sure that the impact of our sanctions is—it’s used for the desired foreign policy effect while minimizing unintended consequences.”

Under the SDGT designation, the Houthis can still gain access to American visas, and lending support to them is not considered a criminal penalty under the law, according to Goldberg and other former senior U.S. officials. American banks will not be forced to seize the terror group’s funds under this designation.

“By refusing to label the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, Biden is preventing several important policies to keep Americans safe and the Houthis weaker,” Gabriel Noronha, a former State Department adviser on Iran, told the Free Beacon.

“Currently, Houthi members could apply and receive a U.S. visa,” he explained, adding that an “FTO designation allows the Department of Justice to prosecute any American who swears allegiance or provides material support to the Houthis, with penalties and enforcement far more robust than the SDGT designation.”

An FTO designation would also allow the victims of Houthi terror attacks to receive compensation from any funds the government seizes from the group, something that is not possible under the current listing.

“Returning the Houthis to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list is only a half-measure, one that senior administration officials immediately conceded they could rescind if the Houthis stop attacking ships,” Noronha said. “That’s not the point of terror sanctions—they should be maintained until the terrorist groups are eliminated entirely.”

Republican lawmakers who spoke to the Free Beacon said the Biden administration was clearly pressured into making the designation and chose to issue it in a form that gives the Houthis breathing room.

“It doesn’t take a genius to know that the Treasury Department’s terrorism sanctions list and the State Department’s terror list are not the same,” said Rep. Kevin Hern (R., Okla.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Congress’s largest GOP caucus. “The Houthis are terrorists. Why doesn’t Biden agree?”
Rep. Mike Turner (R., Ohio), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said on Wednesday that “designating the Houthis as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ only applies sanctions and avoids taking any real action. It’s time to lead and protect and call them what they are—a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

A senior congressional official who works on foreign policy issues accused the Biden administration of “trying to fool Americans and Congress with a fake designation that still gives the Houthis—and Iran—a pass from truly tough action.”

Advocacy groups that track foreign affairs also noted the difference between an SDGT designation and FTO listing.

“The Houthis are a foreign terrorist organization, but the Biden administration would rather classify them as an SDGT, to avoid being called out for their about-face,” Paul Teller, the executive director of conservative advocacy group Advancing American Freedom, said in a statement. “This administration is more afraid of a bad headline than global threats. It’s time to quit playing games and treat U.S. enemies as they deserve to be treated.”

Read more at the FreeBeacon.com

January 2nd, 2024

Advancing American Freedom (AAF) led a group of more than 40 prominent conservatives in calling on United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken to re-designate the Iran-backed Houthi militia as a terrorist organization. AAF was founded by former vice president Mike Pence and promotes what it describes as a “freedom agenda.”

The Trump administration designated the Houthis, which control the bulk of Northern Yemen, a terrorist organization in January 2021, but the Biden administration reversed that decision shortly after taking office. Since Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel, the Houthis have launched missiles and drones in Israel’s direction and have targeted both American military vessels and commercial ships in the Red Sea.

AAF executive director Paul Teller said the erasure of the Houthis’ terrorist designation was a grave error.

“Removing the Houthis from the list of terrorist organizations was one of the first mistakes of this administration,” Teller said. “As the Middle East grows more unstable after Hamas’s unprovoked attack in Israel, the Houthis have added to the chaos, and there is no diplomacy that will dissuade them. The United States must return to a posture of clear-headed realism and treat our enemies as they deserve to be treated.”

Over one hundred container ships have been rerouted around the Horn of Africa to avoid Houthi attacks, adding seven to 14 days of extra travel in exchange for steering clear of potential aggression in the Red Sea. On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a multinational coalition to protect shipping lanes in the region from Houthi violence, an initiative that has been named Operation Prosperity Guardian.

“Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity,” Austin said, though it is unclear when the initiative will be launched.

Among the signatories to the letter are Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matthew Brooks, former secretary of veterans Affairs and under secretary of defense Robert Wilkie, Hudson Institute scholar Kenneth Weinstein, and Center for Military Readiness president Elaine Donnelly.

“It is far past time to acknowledge that the strategy of delisting the Houthis as terrorists has failed to achieve the Pollyannish policy goals you hoped it would,” the letter reads. “Like Hamas, the Houthis are a death cult. No amount of earnest intentions will stop their campaign of terror.”

Read more at NationalReview.com

December 5th, 2023

In the wake of Hamas ’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, most people, especially those on the Right, quickly recognized that Israel ’s battle to destroy Hamas was and is completely justified. Unfortunately, fewer seem to grasp that the destruction of Hamas, while necessary, is not sufficient for Israel’s security.

The fact is Hamas is just one part of a much larger threat that Israel has faced for years. Israel has had to also ward off attacks from the Palestine Liberation Army operating in Judea and Samaria, and other Palestinian terrorist groups such as Islamic Jihad, which recently announced it executed an innocent Israeli woman who had been held hostage for more than a month.

Israel must also contend with Iran and its terrorist proxy on Israel’s northern border, Hezbollah, which has repeatedly attacked Israel with missiles, drones, and artillery in recent weeks, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen firing long-range missiles at Israel and seizing civilian cargo ships in the Red Sea.

Perhaps most disturbingly, Israel is also threatened by the Palestinians who cheer on Hamas and support the total annihilation of the Jewish state. Hamas rules Gaza because it was freely chosen by Palestinians in democratic elections in 2006. One would hope that those same Palestinians would experience buyer’s remorse after the unthinkable slaughter of Oct. 7, when Hamas violated a ceasefire, launched a sneak attack, murdered 1,400 innocent Israeli children, women, and men, injured thousands, and kidnapped hundreds. But there are Palestinians who continue to support the terrorist organization even after it committed the worst act of terrorism since 9/11.

In fact, more than 75% of Palestinians have a favorable view of Hamas after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, according to a survey by Arab World for Research and Development. And nearly all Palestinians, a shocking 98%, said the slaughter made them feel “prouder of their identity as Palestinians.”

Once we accept that the problem Israel and its allies face is not limited to Hamas, a number of conclusions immediately become clear for the United States.

First and foremost, we should expect Israel’s defensive war to be longer, costlier, and deadlier than other flare-ups in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades past, and America must be prepared to support its friend and ally until its victory. Israel is surrounded on all sides by terrorist organizations and nations that wish the Jewish nation didn’t exist, and maintaining Israel’s sovereignty has a bloody price tag.

Second, we must secure our own borders. It is not a coincidence that the same groups calling for Israel’s destruction also call for the U.S.’s. As FBI Director Christopher Wray recently stated, “We cannot discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil,” adding that the FBI has “multiple ongoing investigations into individuals affiliated with that foreign terrorist organization.” America must maintain its own security as it seeks to uphold Israel’s.

Third, the U.S. should not provide a single penny of funding to any Palestinian organization. It should be obvious by now that even humanitarian funding will be diverted to feed Hamas’s bloodthirsty war machine. Funds intended to save innocent lives will instead be used to take innocent lives.

Finally, it’s time for the foreign policy blob in Washington to wake up from the pipe dream of a two-state solution. It was never going to work. In fact, a two-state solution is not only unrealistic, but it would be undesirable for anyone who wants a stable and peaceful Middle East. If the last six weeks have made anything clear, it is that it was a mistake to trust Hamas with the limited amount of sovereignty it had prior to Oct. 7.

Now more than ever, we must recognize what is at stake for Israel and the Jewish people and remain committed to standing by our ally as it defends its right to exist. And that means approaching this conflict with a clear-eyed, realistic view that too many seem to lack.

Read more at the WashingtonExaminer.com

October 19th, 2023

In the aftermath of Hamas ’s deadly terrorist attack on Israel, it should be clear to everyone that the United States needs to rethink security policy in the Middle East and beyond. Adversarial regimes in China, Iran, and Russia want to take advantage of American weakness. The consequences have been tragic.

A good place to start when reassessing American policies would be the billions of dollars currently flowing from the U.S. into the coffers of our adversaries. At present, the U.S. government is far too careless about where American money goes, and this undermines our strategic interests. Funds intended for humanitarian relief, for example, are in fact being used to support vicious attacks on Americans and our allies.

Take the Biden administration’s 2021 move to send $235 million in “humanitarian aid” to Palestinians. On the surface, the decision was motivated by good intentions. Helping Palestinian civilians is a noble goal. But the Biden administration’s decision to send this money betrayed their fundamental naivete about who actually rules in Gaza.

Hamas has a chokehold on civil society in Gaza. The Islamist group has ruled the population of 2 million with an iron fist since it seized power in 2007. From utilities such as water and electricity to sectors such as education and healthcare, Hamas is in complete control. It even runs the local judiciary according to restrictive Islamist legal codes. Gaza is effectively run as a terror state by one of the most bloodthirsty Islamist organizations on the planet, and the Biden administration must reckon with that fact.

The sensible thing to do is simply to cut off all U.S. funds going to Hamas-controlled Gaza. Earlier this week, Advancing American Freedom, a nonprofit organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, sent a letter alongside dozens of other conservative leaders calling on Congress to do just that. “In light of the heinous war against Israel started by Hamas and supported by other Palestinian elements in the region, not one American taxpayer dollar should flow to or underwrite any Palestinian entity or person,” the signers wrote. Until Hamas is utterly destroyed and Gaza free from their brutal tyranny, the United States cannot trust that money sent to Palestinian groups will not be used in the war against Israel.

Unfortunately, Hamas is not the only terrorist organization the Biden administration is inadvertently funding. They also have been funneling money to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. A year after a disastrous retreat from the country, the Biden administration announced it had set up a $3.5 billion fund “for the benefit of the Afghan people.” Again, helping the ordinary people of this war-torn region is a laudable goal. The fact of the matter is, though, that these funds will go toward supporting an enemy the United States fought for a decade. Terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Hamas are not potential diplomatic partners. They are brutal thugs who want to hurt Americans and our allies.

Even worse, the Biden administration could be funding the Iranian terror state. As part of a deal to release certain American prisoners, the Biden administration agreed to release $6 billion to Iran last month. The transfer has been put on hold in the aftermath of Hamas’s attacks, but President Biden should go further.

In the Senate, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has led an effort to permanently freeze the assets. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have a similar bill for which they sought unanimous consent, but were blocked by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT). There is absolutely no reason the United States should be funding terrorist regimes, especially those which may have been involved with planning the attacks in Israel.

The U.S. government is funding adversaries beyond the Middle East, too. Earlier this year, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and watchdog organization Open the Books identified more than $1.3 billion sent by federal agencies to Russian and Chinese entities in the last five years, including $2 million to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. As Vladimir Putin’s armies continue their bloody invasion of Ukraine and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army threatens to attack Taiwan, the last thing the United States should be doing is funneling cash into dictators’ hands.

The Biden administration’s foreign policy is failing. Their policies have largely been designed to appease and accommodate America’s adversaries. Biden naively believes if he gets the leaders of these hostile regimes to the negotiating table, he can reduce tensions and secure some kind of peace. But the anti-American zealots in the emerging Eurasian axis are not interested in a negotiated settlement. They want to roll back American influence as much as possible.

Instead of appeasing and funding our enemies, the Biden administration should focus on supporting our allies. Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan all need America’s unwavering support. Providing our friends with arms and money will help them turn the tide against the forces of chaos and reestablish deterrence. Treating enemies like potential diplomatic partners or as recipients of foreign aid will only weaken America’s position in the world.

Read more at the WashingtonExaminer.com.

October 17th, 2023

More than 60 conservative leaders on Friday urged the complete defunding of U.S. foreign aid to Palestinians through Congress’ appropriations process.

In a joint letter to Congress, the leaders stated, “In light of the heinous war against Israel started by Hamas and supported by other Palestinian elements in the region, not one American taxpayer dollar should flow to or underwrite any Palestinian entity or person.”

Advancing American Freedom, a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, led the coalition letter. Conservative leaders such as former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese III; Family Research Council President Tony Perkins; retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin; Young America’s Foundation President Scott Walker; former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; and Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., signed the letter.

This follows news of 30 Americans confirmed killed in Israel and 13 missing as of Sunday during the Hamas attack and subsequent violence.

“The language in the relevant appropriations legislation … must be clear, very specific, comprehensive, and not able to be circumvented by unscrupulous bureaucrats,” the leaders assert.

“The United States must stand with our ally, Israel, and end all funding of Palestinians,” said Advancing American Freedom Executive Director Paul Teller in a statement. “The United States will not fund terrorist organizations like Hamas that use whatever funding given to Palestinians to carry out terrorist operations and attacks like the one we just witnessed. Congress must demonstrate its unwavering support to Israel and cease funding the Palestinians.”

Advancing American Freedom is an organization that advocates for conservative values and policy proposals. The letter says the group is ready to assist Congress “in any way” with defunding legislation.

Read more at TheDailySignal.com.

October 16th, 2023

Former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese and former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., are among more than 60 conservatives calling for the defunding of Palestinians in the appropriations process.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., former Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer also signed an Oct. 13 letter to Congress.

“We the undersigned demand the immediate and complete defunding of the Palestinians via the appropriations process underway this fiscal year,” the letter read. “In light of the heinous war against Israel started by Hamas and supported by other Palestinian elements in the region, not one American taxpayer dollar should flow to or underwrite any Palestinian entity or person, whether government or non-government, whether direct or indirect, and whether military, political, or civilian.

“The language in the relevant appropriations legislation, including continuing resolutions, composite appropriations bills, and individual appropriations bills, must be clear, very specific, comprehensive, and not able to be circumvented by unscrupulous bureaucrats.”

Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie, and Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, also signed the letter.

Advancing American Freedom, founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, spearheaded the letter.

“The United States must stand with our ally, Israel, and end all funding of Palestinians,” AAF Executive Director Paul Teller said in a statement. “The horrific war, started by Hamas and cheered on by some Palestinians and Iranians, has led to the death of 1,300 Israelis and 22 Americans, and the whereabouts of hostages are still unknown.

“The United States will not fund terrorist organizations like Hamas, that use whatever funding given to Palestinians to carry out terrorist operations and attacks like the one we just witnessed. Congress must demonstrate its unwavering support to Israel and cease funding the Palestinians.”

AAF said it serves the conservative movement by “developing innovative policy solutions, strategies, coalitions, and messaging that builds upon those accomplishments, expands freedom for all Americans, and hampers anything that would threaten America’s standing as the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.”

Read more at NewsMax.com.