With Israel now fighting off terrorist group Hamas for the last three weeks in Operation Protective Edge, the US Congress met recently. Democrats proposed a $2.7 billion bill that would provide not only monies for increased border security but also $255 million for the Iron Dome missile defense system in Israel. Republicans turned down the Iron Dome Bill because they don’t want to add to the nation’s still-growing debt. The new bill also set aside $655 million to fight wildfires out West, an annual issue with the surge in hot temperatures (particularly in the summer).
In the last three weeks alone, the IDC says that Hamas has fired 2,968 rockets at Israel, with 547 having been intercepted by the Iron Dome. As you can see, the Dome’s missile defense system is important to prevent further death and loss of life behind this all-out terrorism strategy. And yet, in Israel’s most important time of need, US Republicans are more concerned about their dollars than aiding a country that’s been their greatest ally in the world.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid was impassioned about coming to Israel’s aid and couldn’t believe the stance of Republicans to turn their backs on their greatest ally in order to save dollars and cents: “We’ve all watched as the tiny state of Israel, who is with us on everything, they have had in the last three weeks 3,000 rockets fired into their country…our number one ally—at least in my mind—is under attack. If this isn’t an emergency, I don’t know anything that is.”
In days gone by, Republicans, as Christian conservatives who hold to a rather literal view of the Christian Bible, have strengthened their alliance with Israel because they believe they are under a biblical mandate to do so in order to receive blessing from God.
