Republicans Press Biden To Explain Executive Order Targeting Israeli Jews 

Sen. Cotton and others say admin’s efforts ‘undercut our most valuable’ ally

The Biden administration is under congressional pressure to explain a series of executive orders targeting Israeli Jews with sanctions and undermining what a group of GOP senators says is the Jewish state’s effort to eradicate Hamas.

Nine Republican lawmakers led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) are leaning on the Biden administration to rescind two recent orders targeting Israel’s war effort. The first issues sanctions on Israeli Jews for alleged crimes against Palestinians, while the second threatens to cut off U.S. weapons sales to Israel unless it provides assurances the arms will not harm civilians.

Both measures were issued by the Biden administration earlier this month following a wave of pressure from far-left Democratic lawmakers opposed to U.S. support for Israel as it faces down Hamas. The Republicans in a letter sent late last month to the president say the executive actions are “undermining Israeli operations against Hamas in Gaza” and “undercut our most valuable alliance in the Middle East” as it battles for survival. The letter highlights growing gaps between Republicans and the Democratic White House as Israel’s war with Hamas continues into its sixth month.

“You should rescind both documents, and sanction terrorists and their supporters instead of their victims,” write the lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), Rick Scott (R., Fla.), and Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), among others. Cotton and his colleagues note that the United States has not sanctioned any Palestinians for crimes against Jews, even as terror incidents increased by 350 percent in 2023, including 300 shooting attacks on Jews.

The senators instruct the White House to provide them “with a full explanation of what evidentiary standards and processes are intended to be employed when choosing to sanction Israelis while ignoring the serious crimes committed by the Palestinian Authority.”

“Once again, the Biden administration has shown that there’s one standard for Israel and another for the Hamas-supporting terrorists,” Cotton told the Washington Free Beacon. “President Biden and his aides continue to try and undermine our Israeli allies at every turn.”

Writing about the Feb. 1 order that permits the State Department to level sanctions on Jews it accuses of violence, the senators express concern that the broad authorities granted allow the United States to “arbitrarily punish Israelis” and fail to include any “defined standards for determining when sanctions are warranted.”

“Under the guise of ‘peace, security, or stability of the West Bank,’ it appears the State Department can punish arbitrarily any Israeli it wants,” the lawmakers write. “Yet, the State Department hasn’t acted against the Palestinian Authority, which makes ‘pay to slay’ payments to terrorists for murdering innocent Israeli families.”

The so-called pay to slay program is a Palestinian government policy of paying imprisoned terrorists and their families a monthly stipend and includes financial support for the Hamas militants who systematically murdered, raped, and kidnapped more than 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7.

The Biden administration’s Feb. 8 order put unprecedented requirements on Israel to provide assurances U.S.-made weapons will not be used to commit war crimes. The Biden administration moved forward with this policy even though American law already requires countries using American weapons adhere to international standards for war.

The order, the senators say, “similarly—and falsely—implies that Israel is committing mass war crimes in its campaign against Hamas and threatens to cut off aid unless Israel meets arbitrary deadlines for providing ‘assurances’ regarding international humanitarian law.”

“We already have rules requiring aid recipients to comply with applicable law and in line with American interests,” the lawmakers note. “Moreover, Israel has provided ample evidence of the steps it takes to avoid civilian casualties, which [White House communications director] John Kirby acknowledged publicly.”

The Biden administration is stonewalling other congressional probes into its policies targeting Israel, including an effort by Cotton to discern if its sanctions on Israeli Jews will apply to those living in East Jerusalem.