Rep. Stefanik rallies for ‘total victory’ over Hamas during trip to Israel, blasts Biden
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik championed Israel’s push for “total victory” against Hamas terrorists and called out antisemitism on campuses in the US as well as President Biden for standing in the way.
Stefanik (R-NY), 39, spoke Sunday in Jerusalem Hall with multiple members of the Israeli Knesset at the invitation of Speaker Amir Ohana and called on the US to supply Israel “with what it needs, when it needs it, without conditions.”
“Total victory is something too many others throughout the free world fail to understand. Total victory starts—but only starts—with wiping those responsible for October 7th off the face of the earth,” Stefanik declared.
“There can be no retrievable dignity for Hamas and its backers.”
The House Republican Conference Chairwoman’s trip to Israel makes her the highest-ranking member of the House of Representatives to visit Israel since the bloody Oct. 7 surprise attack from Hamas that sparked the war, her office claims.
Some members of the Biden administration have openly questioned whether a total victory is achievable. Last week, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell suggested that such an outcome was not likely or possible.
He referenced the War on Terrorism and how the US struggled to snuff out similar groups on the battlefield.
President Biden, 81, confirmed earlier this month that his administration had paused the shipment of some 3,500 large bombs to Israel amid concerns about a possible invasion of the Gazan city of Rafah.
Biden further threatened to withhold additional arms if Israel forged ahead with a major ground invasion of the refugee-dense city, which Israel contends is home to the last major vestiges of Hamas.
“There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel – aid that was duly passed by the Congress,” Stefanik declared during her remarks.
Last October, after Hamas’ deadly sneak attack, Biden visited Israel and reaffirmed his support for the Jewish state, but later clashed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war.
In an interview that Stefanik conducted with “Fox News Sunday,” she accused Biden of souring on Israel due to the political revolt from progressives including in Michigan where over 100,000 Democratic primary voters marked themselves as “uncommitted.”
“This is about Joe Biden’s beleaguered and failing polls in states like Michigan. There is desperation politically,” Stefanik told the network. “Shame on Joe Biden. It is a betrayal of the importance of the U.S.-Israel alliance, that is the most precious in the region.”
During her speech in Jerusalem Hall, she also ripped the Biden administration for an agreement with Iran to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil money that had been holed up in South Korea as part of a prisoner swap.
Top officials claim that Iran has not been given unfettered access to those funds, but rather the ability to receive it for humanitarian purposes via a monitored process.
Stefanik has long been a backer of the Jewish state since ascending to the lower chamber back in 2015 and made headlines late last year for grilling presidents of elite universities over antisemitism on campus.
“I led the charge to expose this moral rot of antisemitism infecting our supposed most ‘elite’ higher education institutions,” Stefanik crowed in Israel.
She warned that campuses across the US are “in a paroxysm of blood lust, cosplaying Hamas” and that some of those views have been “given airtime by some radical Democrat Members of Congress.”
“Those views do not reflect the views of the American people. The American people stand firmly behind you,” she said.
“The days of unchecked antisemitism, of anti-Jewish racism, must be over. We will hold the purveyors of the oldest hatred accountable,” she later added.
Stefanik also recounted her time growing up in upstate New York, where she attended an all-girls school that was fixated right next to a synagogue. She also talked about the Jewish friends she had, which underpins her stance on Israel.
“My love and respect for the Jewish people and the people of Israel is lifelong and deep,” she said.
Stefanik has visited Israel in the past but stressed that this time was different given the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre of some 1,200 Israelis that is still top of mind.
“The stakes are higher. Our sense of moral, patriotic duty feels heightened, renewed,” she said. “…What we are witnessing today is a story of the forces of good versus evil. The forces of civilization against the forces of barbarism, of humanity versus depravity.”
In addition to the speech in Jerusalem Hall, Stefanik was also slated to meet with top officials in Israel and tour religious sites, including ones that were ravaged in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
