President Joe Biden warned Israel that the U.S. would halt some arms shipments to Israel if the latter chose to invade the city of Rafah. The president’s comments drew sharp criticisms from some high-profile fund managers, who have been very vocal about the Middle East crisis.
What Happened: Biden conceded that the 2000-pound bombs supplied by the U.S. to Israel were used to kill civilians in Gaza. In a CNN interview on Thursday, the president said, “I’ve made it clear that if they go into Rafah, they haven’t gone on Rafa yet,…I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah.”
The Biden administration last week paused the supply of these powerful bombs to Israel.
The president, however, clarified that the U.S. would ensure Israel is secure. “We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently.”
That said, Biden termed Israel’s intention to invade Rafah as wrong, adding that the U.S. would not supply Israel with the weapons and artillery shells that have been used as well. He, however, said so far Israel hasn’t gone into the population centers and its troops were only on the border.
Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, sheltered more than a million Palestinian civilians, and this may have led Biden to talk down his support to Israel, CNN said.
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Ackman, Eisman React: Delving into Biden’s comments, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said in a post on X, “Crazy. This is one of the worst acts against an ally of a sitting president ever.”
“Hopefully, this means he won't be sitting for much longer.”
In a separate post, Ackman said that by withholding weapons from Israel in the middle of the hostage negotiations with Hamas, the president was sending a clear message to Hamas that the “administration was tipping the scale in the negotiations in Hamas' favor.”
Ackman had previously called out the president for not doing enough on the hostage crisis.
“Now why would Biden abandon an important ally while it was negotiating the return of hostages including five or more Americans?” he asked. The Pershing Square founder said the reason could be political. He noted that Biden was at risk of losing the Muslim vote in Michigan and other key states, and “he is leveraging Israel to advance himself with these constituents.”
“Biden has made eminently clear that he is prepared to impair one of our key allies' ability to fight an enemy in order to win more votes at home,” Ackman said. “A president who cared about his reputation and that of our country would never behave this way.”
The fund manager also said the “disastrous policy decisions” may have been made by others in the administration as the “president no longer has the capability or judgment to make them himself.”
Steve Eisman, Portfolio Manager at Neuberger Berman, warned of backlash for the president following his recent stance. “I think Biden might have just lost the Jewish vote,” he said.
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Image created using photo by Center For Jewish History, NYC on Wikimedia and engin akyurt on Unsplash
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