FIGHTIN' WORDS: Speaker Mike Johnson Accuses Biden of Not Being Loyal Enough to Israel
Netanyahu's favorite Evangelical in Congress Johnson wasted no time to let the American public know that his first measure of business as speaker was to “support” Israel
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who holds ties to Israel's far-right and was given a tour of Israel in 2020 by a “top settler,” accused the White House of — deep down — wanting the massacre in Gaza to end.
Johnson told his online followers not to let the U.S.’s veto of a UN ceasefire resolution on Tuesday trick them.
“Not long ago, the White House said calls for a cease-fire were ‘disgraceful.’ But now the administration is not only supporting a cease-fire but leading the charge by proposing a UN resolution. Do not let today’s UN veto fool you, the White House DOES support a cease-fire. While the Biden administration reverses course, House Republicans will remain steadfast in our support for Israel in its fight against Hamas,” he posted on X.
Johnson’s position is essentially the Fox News position. Mark Levin, the pro-Israel booster at the network, has suggested that Israel should go nuclear if it begins to lose the war and retweeted a column asking if there is such a thing as innocents in Gaza.
That position is the mainstream in “conservative” America.
Algeria brought the ceasefire agreement to the floor and its UN ambassador, Amar Bendjama, told the Security Council that a vote for the draft resolution is a “support to the Palestinians right to life,” the Associated Press reported. “Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted against them.”
The vote came in at 13-1 in favor of the resolution. The U.S. vetoed the measure and the U.K. abstained from voting. The resolution was brought to the floor knowing that the U.S. would reject the measure—but those in favor wanted to show the world the unity behind the ceasefire push, outside the U.S. and U.K.
Johnson, after being elected speaker, wasted no time to let the American public know that his first measure of business was to “support” Israel.
Haaretz published an illuminating report at the time that could offer a glimpse into Johnson’s decision to list Israel as his top agenda item as speaker in an article titled, “New House Speaker Mike Johnson, an Evangelical Christian, Holds Ties to Israel’s Far Right.”
The paper wrote that his selection was “the most significant victory to date for evangelical Christians’ pro-Israel movement.”
The paper noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relies on Evangelical support in the U.S. as his own government moves to the right and was losing some support from American Jews. The 7 October attack by Hamas only moved the “pro-Israel Evangelical” even more “vocally pro-Israel.”
The report pointed to a trip that Johnson took to Israel in 2020 with a group whose CEO is a “social media activist named Avi Abelow, who emigrated from New York more than 30 years ago at age 18 and lives in the West Bank settlement of Efrat.”
During his trip, he visited Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and called it a “fulfillment of biblical prophecy.”
Ben Samuels, the author of the Haaretz article, posted on X: “House Speaker Mike Johnson holds ties to Israel's far right — traveling on a private visit organized by a top settler, meeting with the group behind Israel's judicial overhaul and touring the Temple Mount with an activist against maintaining the status quo.”
Mother Jones also reported:
Johnson traveled to Israel with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). The sponsor for this trip was the New York-based 12Tribe Films Foundation, a small outfit that that describes itself as “online warriors for truth about Israel and the Jewish people.” The organization spent $34,520—about one-quarter of its revenue that year—to fly the two lawmakers and their wives to Israel and host them for the week-long trip. The itinerary included visits to the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, and Hebron, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as meetings with Israeli military officials, business owners, and political leaders—including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the right-wing Likud Party. The two congressmen also received a briefing from the Kohelet Policy Forum, a far-right Israeli think tank that would later help cook up the Netanyahu administration’s controversial plan to weaken the country’s judiciary.
Johnson said at a pro-Israel rally in November that his support is unwavering.
“I agree with our friend, Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu who said this is a battle between good versus evil, between light versus darkness, between civilization and barbarism. And we want to make absolutely clear where America stands in that fight, and we’ll continue to do that,” he said.
