The newly-elected US House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that Israel’s needs are more urgent than Ukraine’s.
The newly-elected US House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that President Joe Biden’s latest request for funding Ukraine aid will be put on the back burner as US lawmakers vote this week on the more “pressing” priority of helping Israel in its war on Gaza, RT reported on Monday.
“We’re going to move a stand-alone Israel funding bill this week in the House,” Johnson said on Sunday in a Fox News interview.
Johnson gave no indication of when the House might take up the latest proposed round of funding for Ukraine.
AL-JAZEERA: #Israel summons the Russian ambassador to protest the reception of the #Hamas delegation.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/vYfoYHHA4r pic.twitter.com/TyB2LxnCXN
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 29, 2023
Biden has called for bundling aid to both Ukraine and Israel into a $106 billion emergency funding bill, rather than allowing lawmakers to vote on the issues separately.
His administration unveiled a plan earlier this month to provide an additional $61.4 billion to fund Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, $14.3 billion for Israel, and $9.2 billion for humanitarian aid in both countries.
The US Congress previously approved $113 billion in Ukraine aid in four rounds of legislation, but Republican opposition to further funding to Kyiv has increased.
Johnson predicted that the stand-alone Israel bill would win strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
🚨 Al-Quds Hospital in the northern part of the #Gaza Strip has come under shelling, the Al-Hadath television channel said on Sunday.https://t.co/8DXcjbF0gE pic.twitter.com/XF9pd1aM2z
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 29, 2023
“My intention is not to use this for any partisan political gamesmanship,” he said. “This is a very serious matter.”
“We believe that that is a pressing and urgent need,” Johnson said in Sunday’s interview, about the aid to Israel.
“There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address, and we will, but right now, what’s happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and I think we have got to separate that and get it through.”
This is a priority for our country, and we cannot allow the brutality and the just unspeakable evil that is happening against Israel right now to continue,” Johnson said, adding: “We’re going to stand with our friends.”
Israel has, thus far, killed over 8,300 Palestinians in Gaza, and wounded more than 21,000. Palestinian Ministry of Health reports and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
For about 40 hours, residents of the #Gaza Strip were cut off from the rest of the world as Israeli occupation forces severed internet and communication networks throughout the entire Strip.https://t.co/zykbHe8JxA pic.twitter.com/xwf0MDOXAV
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 29, 2023
Despite a massive Israeli military buildup around the Gaza borders and sporadic infiltrations on the outskirts of the besieged Strip, Palestinian Resistance continues to repel Israeli attacks.
To justify its military failure, the Israeli army continues to pound civilian homes throughout the Gaza Strip with new massacres reported everywhere in the besieged enclave.
Gaza has been under a tight Israeli military siege since 2007, following a democratic election in occupied Palestine, the results of which were rejected by Tel Aviv and Washington.
(PC, RT)
