With President Joe Biden (D) sharing with the world that the fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah has come to a ceasefire, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) released a statement in response. President Biden said from the White House Rose Garden that neither the Jewish State nor the Lebanese people wanted the war but that Hezbollah initiated it.
"Let's be clear. Israel did not launch this war. The Lebanese people did not seek that war either. Nor did the United States," Biden said. "Security for the people of Israel and Lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield. And that's why I directed my team to work with the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to forge a cease-fire, to bring a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to a close."
“However, the Biden administration has spent the last four years pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel and boosting Iran, including by coercing our Israeli allies to cede maritime territory to Hezbollah," said Sen. Cruz. "They are now using the transition period to the Trump administration and a Republican Congress to try to lock in those efforts - and to constrain the incoming administration - by establishing what they believe to be irreversible diplomatic, legal, and military policies. However, these and similar international policies are not irreversible."
The Texas senator also accused "Obama-Biden officials" of pressuring Israel to accept the terms of the ceasefire and was "deeply disturbed" by this prospect.
“I am deeply disturbed both by reports that Obama-Biden officials exerted enormous pressure on our Israeli allies to accept this ceasefire and by how those officials are characterizing Israel's obligations. This pressure and these statements are further efforts to undermine Israel and constrain the incoming Trump administration," said Sen. Cruz. "Obama-Biden officials pressured our Israeli allies into accepting the ceasefire by withholding weapons they needed to defend themselves and counter Hezbollah, and by threatening to facilitate a further, broader, binding international arms embargo through the United Nations."
He added that this move from the officials is only used to ensure terrorist groups "remain intact" in the Middle East and have "downplayed Israel's right under the ceasefire to strike terrorist groups in Lebanon when those groups pose imminent threats."
Finally, Cruz stated that Israel has been defiant of these "constraints" and said the United States should help the Jewish State in its mission to destroy terrorist organizations.
“These constraints have been rejected by our Israeli allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that under the ceasefire Israel retains full freedom of action to counter Hezbollah if the group attacks Israel or tries to rebuild its terrorist infrastructure. The United States should allow and assist Israel in doing so, and I am committed to working closely with the Trump administration and my colleagues in the incoming Congress to ensure they are able to so," concluded Cruz.
