Lame-duck Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) suggested Sunday that the U.S. should withhold aid to Israel unless the Jewish state provides weaponry to Ukraine for its fight against Russian invasion. which he portrayed as a clash between good and evil.
Israel has provided humanitarian assistance, and has offered to mediate talks between Ukraine and Russia, since it has good relations with both. But it has been reluctant to antagonize Russia, whose troops and sailors are next door to Israel in Syria.
Kinzinger, who has been pushing for aggressive military action to defend Ukraine, blasted Israel after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Israel to provide weapons, such as the Iron Dome missile defense system, to his country.
He declared: “Israel’s reaction to #Ukraine will have bearing on future aid from the US to #Israel. Pay it forward.” (Israeli politicians, meanwhile, were offended by Zelensky’s attempt to draw parallels between the current war and the Holocaust.)
Israel’s reaction to #Ukraine will have bearing on future aid from the US to #Israel. Pay it forward
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) March 20, 2022
After his tweet drew hostile criticism, Kinzinger attempted to justify his stance, declaring that he wanted to “double down”:
Thread on Israel: so i grabbed the third rail of foreign policy today, as I said Israel needs to pick a side, and that future aid could be at stake.
I want to double down on this, let me explain.
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) March 21, 2022
2) I deeply support our relationship with Israel. But supporting friends doesn’t mean we look past differences. We have stood with Israel and will continue to do so. But at the moment there is a battle between Good and Evil, between a world based on raw power or…
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) March 21, 2022
3) one based one the post WW2 rules. Everyone must pick a side. The outcome of this fight will impact the world my son grows up in, and now is the time to call anyone to the carpet who does not do their utmost.
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) March 21, 2022
4) if we don’t want to directly attack Russia, then our leverage is in the world uniting in sanctions and assistance for the people of Ukraine. This includes everyone, and Israel doesn’t have a special exemption. Hopefully they will do the right thing. /end
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) March 21, 2022
Israel received $3.8 billion in military aid from the U.S. last year, including $500,000 for its Iron Dome missile defenses.
Also on Sunday, Zelensky responded positively to Israeli offers to host peace talks with Russia in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
