US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reassured Israelis that the United States will meet its defense needs following last month’s 11-day war between Israel and allied terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
Graham arrived in Israel on Monday as part of a multi-day junket to assess the aftermath of the IDF’s Operation Guardian of the Walls. He met with top government and IDF officials to determine the amount of aid Israel will need to replenish and upgrade the Iron Dome system, and what the US can do stymie the spread of terrorism within the Palestinian territories and across the Middle East.
Israel intends to request $1 billion from the United States to replenish the IDF’s inventory, Graham said in an interview with Fox News. Defense Minister Benny Gantz will meet with the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday to address reinforcing the Iron Dome system and Israel’s security and stability in the Middle East in a strategic dialogue.
“This was the largest sustained assault in maybe history and the Iron Dome performed incredibly well, saving thousands of Israeli lives and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives,” Graham said at a media briefing. “I would imagine that the administration will say yes to this request and it will sail through Congress. There has been a big dust up over the last engagement between Hamas and Israel in the United States, but I’m here to tell you that there is a wide and deep support for Israel among the Democratic party.”
Graham thanked US President Joe Biden for standing by Israel throughout the last conflict, and his administration’s willingness to seek more money from Congress to replenish Israel’s defenses.
The senator further commented on the concern over Iran and the threat it poses within the region.
“After going to the South today and seeing firsthand some of the damage done from the recent conflict, I was talked to very strongly about the North,” Graham said. “We’ve been talking about the South in the last week or so, but there is a real fear among the defense establishment in Israel that the potential for Hezbollah to strike Israel is a lot greater than coming from Hamas.”
Graham said that the common fear in connection with the two terror groups is Iran, and that the world is essentially putting Israel in a “box,” adding that Iran is the “largest state sponsor of terrorism and nothing deters them.” He added that without Iran support, both Hamas and Hezbollah would be “neutered.”
“So when it comes to Israeli national security threats, all roads lead back to Iran,” Graham said. “The Arab view and the Israeli view are the same, that you can’t trust Iran with an enrichment program. Longer and stronger is not possible.”
The senator added that he is looking to find an “alternative” solution to the Joint Comprehensive Plan on Action Iran nuclear deal, which Biden pledged to rejoin after taking office in January, and will present his plan to the Biden administration in the coming weeks.
“I gave the details about this proposal to every Israeli politician that I met, they were very interested in the concept,” Graham said.
Giving detail, the senator said that the concept is based around the original French position that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries can have “all the nuclear power they want from an international fuel bank,” but nobody will be allowed to enrich uranium to do so.
“If the Iranians truly want peaceful nuclear power that can be accomplished, they don’t need an enrichment program,” Graham said. “I’m hoping we can find an alternative to the JCPOA that would deal with the regions concern about Iran abusing the right to enrich, and one day having a [nuclear] bomb.”