WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published on op-ed in Time magazine today highlighting the need to pass funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific by voting for President Biden’s national security supplemental.
Time: From Ukraine to Israel, Congress Can’t Abandon Our Allies
“It’s been more than a month since President Biden submitted a funding request to stand with Israel, support Ukraine, increase security in the Indo-Pacific, and strengthen our border. These are historically bipartisan priorities caught up in unnecessary partisan politics, and enough is enough: To defend our allies, counter tyrants, and safeguard American interests, Congress must pass President Biden’s entire supplemental funding request without delay.
“Doing so would send a strong message that the U.S. stands behind Israel as it defends itself against the terrorists who carried out the deadliest attack on the Jewish community since the Holocaust. Soon after the Hamas attacks on October 7, I traveled with a bipartisan group of 10 senators to the Middle East, and Israeli leadership, to a person, had the same message for us: While the Israeli Defense Forces might be among the world’s best militaries, Israel needs its closest ally’s help during this unprecedented time. President Biden’s funding request would provide billions in additional air defense for Israel as well as timely access to weapons systems.”
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“These conflicts are separated by thousands of miles, but they have more in common than meets the eye. All of them are bulwarks against regional chaos that may threaten our security and require the U.S. to send more than just weapons. If Ukraine falls, Russia will advance on our NATO allies in Eastern Europe next, necessitating the involvement of U.S. troops – the same thing that might happen if the current Israel-Hamas conflict spirals into a regional war and endangers our military personnel serving in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Iran and its proxies arm our adversaries in both conflicts. Acting only in one theater may embolden their actions in the other.
“The same American values are also at stake in all of these fights. A core tenet of both American leadership in the last century was that might does not make right; that one cannot redraw the boundaries of a nation or negate its right to exist by force by launching rockets or sending in tanks. We cannot claim to be the leader of the free world if we refuse to act when our allies and our values are at risk; nor can we make that claim if we decide that defense is worthwhile in the Middle East but not in Europe.”
Read more of the op-ed here.