Biden faces bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill over Israel ultimatum

Lawmakers in Washington, DC, on Sunday weighed in on President Joe Biden’s ultimatum last week on CNN that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would cause him to pause certain weapons transfers.

President Joe Biden is facing backlash from lawmakers in both parties over his ultimatum that a major Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah would result in a shut-off of some US weapons. Biden’s decision to go public with the ultimatum in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett last week was greeted with pointed criticism across the GOP spectrum on Sunday, and vocal concern among Democrats. “On the one hand, they’re saying too many Palestinian civilians have been killed. With the other hand, they’re depriving us of the precision guided weapons that actually cut down on civilian casualties,” Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” though Biden specifically mentioned withholding bombs and artillery shells deemed by the administration as indiscriminate and imprecise. “So if you’re worried about Palestinian casualties, the stated policy here actually doesn’t make a ton of sense,” Vance said. The president’s announcement amounted to a turning point in US-Israeli ties since the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October. Still, the president’s aides said the message shouldn’t have been a surprise to their intended recipients in Israel given repeated warnings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier this month, Biden signed off on a pause of 3,500 bombs to Israel that administration officials feared would be dropped on Rafah — where Israel has issued evacuation orders for some of the estimated 1.4 million civilians sheltering there as it appears poised to continue its advancement on the southern Gaza city.