Wisconsin Republican accuses Biden of allowing Hamas to ‘rearm’ amid pressure on Israel

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) accused President Biden of allowing Hamas to “rearm” amid the increased pressure the commander-in-chief put toward Israel in the last two weeks. 

Johnson again stressed that Israel needs to wipe out Hamas to ensure its safety and that giving “time” to the opposition could lead to a worse outcome. 

“It’s not tenable for them to continue to live with Hamas on their border,” Johnson said in an interview with radio talk show host John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM’s “Cats Roundtable.”

“They’ve got to destroy Hamas and the Biden administration should allow them to do it, try and get this war over as quickly as possible so that what you’re saying is happening now been start happening. So again, you give your enemies time to regroup, time to rearm, it’s just going to make the final results even bloodier.” 

The Wisconsin senator went after Biden, accusing the president of “abandoning” Israel in light of his increased criticism of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza. Johnson added that he does not know to what “extent” Israel has been affected by the Biden administration’s “fecklessness.” 

“So, basically, President Biden is abandoning, been betraying Israel,” Johnson said. “War is hell, that’s why Hamas never should have broken the ceasefire with their horrific slaughter on October 7. I don’t know to what extent Israel has been hampered by President Biden and his administration’s fecklessness, but you know, war is hell and the sooner you can get over the better.” 

Biden has been increasingly critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the ongoing conflict. Following the strike that killed several aid workers from World Central Kitchen who were tasked with getting aid to Palestinians in Gaza, Biden had a phone call with the Israeli leader, warning him that the U.S. would reconsider its policy toward the conflict if Israel did not do more to curb civilian casualties. 

Johnson also scrutinized Biden for not bringing enough “support” to get Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and that the Kremlin will not lose the war against Ukraine, which has been fending off the invasion for over two years.

“My concerns has been that Biden never provided the type of support and weaponry to really put the kind of pressure on Putin to get to the negotiating table,” Johnson said. 

“I don’t know what happened…shortly after the war started, sounds like they were moving toward a peace agreement and the Biden administration and Boris Johnson air mail in there and kind of blow those negotiations,” he said. 

The GOP senator stated that Russia will not lose, pointing to its higher number of troops and the expanding defense production which has grown since the start of the invasion in 2022. 

“Russia will not lose this war,” he said. They have four times population, they’re actually growing their military industrial base. They’re getting stronger. I mean, oil prices are up. Sanctions haven’t worked against Russia. So I don’t know how anybody thinks that Russia is going to lose this war as much as we all sympathize with the courageous people of Ukraine. Some point time, you have to recognize that reality and stop fueling the same flames of a blaze stalemate.” 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have policymakers, certainly not in the Biden ministration that are willing to recognize reality and act accordingly.”