Major Dem donor Haim Saban slams Biden's conditioning of Israel aid: 'Terrible message'
WASHINGTON (TND) — Haim Saban, the media mogul behind Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, criticized President Joe Biden’s pledge to condition military aid for Israel in an email shared by Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Thursday.
Saban, who is a major Democratic PArty donor, argued the U.S.’s restriction was a “bad,,,bad,,,bad,,,decision, on all levels.”
Even beyond Israel,this sends a terrible message to our allies in the region ,and beyond,that, we can flip from doing the right ting [sic] to bending to political pressure,” he wrote.Biden told CNN on Wednesday he would withhold artillery shells Israel has used in similar strikes during its war against Hamas terrorists if the nation invaded Rafah, which sits in the Gaza Strip.
The president’s pledge aligns with his tone toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has shifted from publicly supportive to critical as the war moves to its seventh month.
WE,the US, as you stated numerous times, believe that Hamas should be defeated,” Saban said. “WE,the US, in this case YOU Mr President ,have decided to stop sending munitions to Israel to achieve the goal that WE/YOU have set up for Israel and ourselves.”Biden has received calls from progressive lawmakers to restrict aid to Israel, with some leveraging their voter bases to pressure the president into withdrawing support for Netanyahu. In February, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., urged voters to select “uncommitted” on the primary ballot, which ended up receiving roughly 100,000 votes.
“Let’s not forget that there are more Jewish voters, who care about Israel,than Muslim voters that care about Hamas,” Saban wrote.
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The president has struggled to retain the young voters who helped him into the White House, with a recent CNN poll finding he trailed former President Donald Trump by 11% with voters younger than 35 years old. Biden has said protests at campuses across the country would not change his approach to Israel, although he approved of peaceful demonstrations.
Last month, the president told Netanyahu U.S. aid would be contingent on how Israel prevented civilian casualties following an airstrike that left seven World Central Kitchen aid workers dead.
Saban did not immediately return The National Desk’s request for comment.
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