Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) narrowly defeated Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in a Wednesday secret ballot vote among Republican members of the House of Representatives regarding which man should become House speaker. Next up is a speaker vote by the full House membership.
One thing was never in question in the race between Scalise and Jordan. Either of them as the new speaker would be over the top in his support of the Israel government and of helping it in its new war arising out of the Saturday Hamas attack.
How can we be sure of this? Both speaker candidates were proclaiming such unequivocal support over the last week at their Twitter pages.
Jordan started off early Saturday morning with this statement at his Twitter page:
America stands with Israel today and every day.
It must defend itself against these Hamas terrorists.
We will continue to pray for our great ally and its citizens.
In further posting Saturday morning, Jordan proclaimed:
It is heartening that Congress has come together in a bipartisan manner to strongly condemn the horrendous attacks on Israel and the Israeli citizens.
We must continue to support our great ally as it expels this invasion, overwhelms these extremists, and works to prevent Hamas from ever harming Israeli citizens again.
Come Sunday morning, Jordan posted video of his new interview with host Maria Bartiromo at Fox News in which he went into more detail regarding his devotion to the Israel government, which he called “our great friend and great ally,” and helping it win its new war. “I thought Senator Cotton said it best: We need to give Israel the time, the space, the resources so that they can win and win decisively,” declared Jordan early in the interview. Continuing on the topic, Jordan said, “we do need to get together and get the resources there and the support there so Israel can win.” “There is a special bond between the state of Israel and the American people,” asserted Jordan before talking about having traveled to Israel five times. “The way we can work together and help them it’s been a long history of that; we need to make sure we continue that and help them win this as quickly as possible,” Jordan stated.
Asked by Bartiromo what kind of support Jordan wants the US government to provide to the Israel government, Jordan provided an open-ended answer. “I want to give them what they need to win,” he declared.
Later Sunday morning, Jordan communicated about support he wants the US to provide to Israel right away to aid Israel in its war. Jordan posted:
Rockets are raining down on Israeli towns right now.
We need to immediately help replenish Israel’s stockpile of Iron Dome missiles to protect more innocent civilians from getting killed.
Let’s make sure Congress can unite and assure Israel has what it needs to destroy Hamas.
Then, Monday morning, Jordan declared at Twitter:
We must give Israel the time, space, and resources they need to destroy Hamas.
Over the weekend, I spoke with former ambassador to Israel David Friedman, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman @RepMcCaul, and other HFAC colleagues about uniting to get resources and support to Israel.
Israel has a special bond with the United States and we must continue our long history of cooperation to win this battle.
Jordan returned Tuesday morning to Twitter to further emphasize his support for the US government providing expansive support to the Israel government, including for helping it win its war. Jordan stated:
America supports the people of Israel now and always.
We must give Israel the time, space, and resources to defend itself and destroy Hamas.
Scalise has been less prolific in his Twitter posting on the matter over the last few days, but he has made it clear that his devotion to Israel and helping it in its war is right up there with Jordan’s.
Saturday morning, Scalise posted:
Make no mistake: The United States will always stand with Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East. They must defend themselves as their citizens are slaughtered by Hamas terrorists. They have our full support and our prayers.
This text was followed by images of the US and Israel flags.
Saturday afternoon, Scalise was back at Twitter again asserting that Israel is “our ally”:
The videos coming out of Israel are horrific. We cannot allow anyone to lie about what’s happening here or call it anything other than what it is: terrorism against innocent Israeli civilians and war waged on our ally. Period.
In a Monday morning Twitter post, Scalise declared, “America must stand strongly with Israel and make sure they have what’s needed to win this war.” That post also included a video clip of Scalise speaking at Fox Business, in which he states:
Obviously, I have been working with chairman McCaul and others. We have a strong resolution in support of Israel ready to go. We need to get back on track to express that strong support for Israel, but also to move to make sure they have everything they need to defend themselves.
Either Scalise or Jordan as the new House speaker would fit right in with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and the top Republican and Democratic leaders in the US Senate. All of them — just like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) who last week was voted out of the House speaker position — have expressed over the top devotion to the Israel government.
Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.