On Fox News interview, I blast Biden, Blinken for denying Iran is behind Hamas slaughter of 1,200 Israeli Jews

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — The Biden administration is playing a double – and dangerous – game.

On the one hand, they sound very pro-Israel and even get emotional talking about the savagery of Hamas terrorists slaughtering more than 1,200 Israeli Jews over the past four days, even massacring babies and cutting off their heads like ISIS used to do.

On the other hand, they are appeasing – and funding – the wicked Iranian terrorist regime, and publicly stating that Iran is not complicit in this brutal new war. 

When I watched U.S. President Joe Biden address the American people and the press corps yesterday, I was struck by how strongly – even passionately – his pro-Israel remarks were.

I’m not sure that I disagreed with a single word.

I appreciate that Biden is sending advanced weapons to Israel to help us.

And sending a nuclear aircraft carrier battle group to the Eastern Mediterranean to deter Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Syrian Republic from opening up new fronts against Israel. 

And describing Hamas as operating with the barbarism of ISIS.

That’s all good and true.

Yet, at the same time, I watch senior Biden administration officials – such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken – actively deny seeing the hand of Iran behind the Hamas invasion of Israel.

How in the world can they say that with a straight face?

Let’s be clear: It’s impossible to be truly pro-Israel and give $6 billion to the terror masters in Tehran.

You just can’t have it both ways.

That’s why this morning on Fox News, I had to blast the administration for this “insane” double game.

“Joel, I just want to get your take on this as a journalist over in Israel,” said Fox News @ Night anchor Trace Gallagher.

“When you hear the United States, the administration – the Biden administration – saying that there is no direct link to what happened on October 7th and Iran, what do you make of that statement?”

“Well, Trace, to put that in a word, that's ‘insane,’” I replied, adding that by saying this, the Biden team is “sending a message that the world's worst sponsor of terrorism is not complicit.”

“Why not just say: ‘We think they're very complicit and we're not going to say more right now,’” I asked. “There's no reason to go out and exonerate the Iranian regime.”

So, why is the Biden team bending over backwards to let Tehran off the hook?

“Trace, they're doing it for two reasons,” I explained. “First, they just gave – the Biden administration – just gave Iran $6 billion. Okay? And that's going to buy a lot more terrorism.”

“And the second reason is they have been begging the Iranian regime to come back into the nuclear deal for two years – and they're trying not to tick off the Supreme Leader of Iran.”

But this double game, I noted, simply reveals “the disconnect between the White House and reality when our people have been slaughtered.”

I conceded that I believe President Biden is “sincere” about his love and support for Israel, but added, “I just think he's in a fog and he has no idea what the hell he's talking about.”

The following is the transcript of my interview on Fox News, lightly edited to clarity. 

TRACE GALLAGHER: Now let's bring in two people on the ground in Israel. The editor of ALL ISRAEL NEWS, Joel Rosenberg, and Israeli Army reservist, Raz Shmulevich. We talked Raz a little bit earlier. The story is very compelling. 

I want to begin, if I can, with you with Joel, because I think this is interesting. I just want to get your take on this as a journalist over in Israel. When you hear the United States, the administration – the Biden administration – saying that there is no direct link to what happened on October 7th and Iran, what do you make of that statement? 

ROSENBERG: Well, Trace, to put that in a word, that's “insane.”

By going out early to say that, you're sending a message that the world's worst sponsor of terrorism is not complicit. Why not just say, “We  think they're very complicit and we're not going to say more right now”? 

There's no reason to go out and exonerate the Iranian regime. But why are they doing it? 

Trace, they're doing it for two reasons. 

First, they just gave – the Biden administration – just gave Iran $6 billion. Okay? And that's going to buy a lot more terrorism. 

And the second reason is they [the Biden administration] have been begging the Iranian regime to come back into the nuclear deal for two years – and they're trying not to tick off the Supreme Leader of Iran. So, you can see the disconnect between the White House and reality when our people have been slaughtered.

Now, President Biden comes out – and I think that he's sincere [about his love and support for Israel] – but I just think he's in a fog and he has no idea what the hell he's talking about. 

GALLAGHER: Yeah, it's interesting, Raz, because you talk about – he mentioned slaughter – you have a firsthand account of that. This happened 700 feet from where you live. It's still happening. And I'm wondering if you think that maybe we should put politics aside and focus on more important things for the time being, sir. 

RAZ SHMULEVICH: Well, you probably know that the last few months have been going on in Israeli politics. We had a lot of internal issues regarding politics, and I think Israeli internal politics, for sure, we have to put it aside because we are in a war situation now. We have to be united against the enemy who is trying to kill us, the barbaric enemy.

Regarding international politics, I don't think we should put it aside because I think the U.S. should be blunt and should be clearly saying that Iran is responsible for that. Hamas did not get its funding from the from the moon. Okay? Somebody sponsors Hamas, somebody trains Hamas, somebody provides Hamas with the weapons. The food trucks leads to Iran. Hamas was bragging about being Iran proxy. Iran brags about having great influence in the Middle East. All of a sudden we're all blind. We fail to see the reality. Like, success has a lot of parents, but failure is an orphan. You [Iran] raised Hamas. It's your responsibility. Don't shake your hand off it. 

GALLAGHER: Yeah, I mean, I very quickly want to put this [video clip] up there, if we have this. This is Yaakov Katz, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. Here's what he had to say. 

[YAAKOV KATZ, SOUNDBITE]: If Israel is to keep pushing them back into Gaza, to do that, they have to launch this ground offensive. But they also have to degrade their [Hamas’] capabilities. Now, why is it a bad option? Because it's going to draw casualties on both sides. There will be Israeli casualties. There will be Palestinian casualties, and it will drag on this conflict. But, unfortunately, we do not have a choice. 

GALLAGHER: Joel, we talked about this earlier, that the troops are amassing at the border of Gaza. Do you believe that this will be a full on assault or more tactical? 

ROSENBERG: I do believe it's going to be a full on invasion and the elimination of Hamas. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu has always been very cautious because he was wounded as a combat soldier. His brother was killed in combat for Israel. He never wanted to go all in [to Gaza]. But there's literally no way [to avoid going into Gaza in the ground] when you're at 1,200 casualties – that's like 30,000 casualties in the United States, you know, proportional to our population. Imagine if Fox News had a report 30,000 casualties of Americans in four days. So, that's why we're going to go all in. 

But what does Iran want out of this? They want pictures of dead Palestinians. They want to slaughter Jews, but they want also pictures of dead Palestinians because they want to blow up the peace process with the Saudis, and with the Arab countries that joined the Abraham Accords, and put us in a position where we, as Israelis, look like monsters rather than them. That's what we're up against right now. 

GALLAGHER: Raz, your final thoughts on this. Do you support an all-out invasion? I mean, your house is 700 feet from where this is happening. Would you support that? 

SHMULEVICH: I support anything that will eliminate the Hamas administration. 

I'm a soldier myself. I was actually called up [as a reservist] a few days ago. I'm supposed to report for duty. We will pay price for it, no doubt about it. In war, we only have losers. Nobody wins. This war was forced upon us by the brutal, barbaric actions of Hamas and the massacre. We are not eager or keen to go to war, but we'll do whatever needs. 

And I'm seconding what you [Joel] said. Unfortunately, that cannot be ended with another round of airstrikes or what have you. No, it has to be done on the ground…

GALLAGHER: Raz, thank you so much. Joel, thank you for your time. We very much appreciate it. The best of luck to you, Raz – you and your family and all the people of Israel.