 President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly picked "AIPAC favorite" Florida Rep Mike Waltz to serve as his National Security Advisor.
Waltz is "a favorite of the Republican Jewish Coalition and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee" and has argued that Chuck Schumer isn't pro-Israel enough, the Israeli outlet Haaretz reports.
From Haaretz, "Trump Reportedly Taps Michael Waltz, pro-Israel Green Beret, as National Security Advisor" (Archive):
The appointment of [Florida Rep. Mike] Walz, a favorite of the Republican Jewish Coalition and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, will be viewed as a win for the hawkish neoconservative wing of the Republican Party that has advocated a peace-through-strength foreign policy ahead of any isolationism.
The Florida congressman used his remarks at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual confab in September to slam Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for "interfering in Israel's elections" after lamenting on the Senate floor that Netanyahu had lost his way. Waltz called Israel "the greatest ally we've ever known."
Waltz additionally implied that the Biden administration forced Israel's targeted response during its Iran strikes to exclude military targets, saying "it's important to note what hasn't been hit in Iran: 1. Kharg island where 80% of Iran's oil exports funnel (but doing so would cause oil prices to spike just before the election) 2. Natanz nuclear facilities which are 200 miles outside Tehran (and Biden publicly said he didn't support). This might be Israel's last best chance to diminish Iran's nuclear program and shut down their cash. Did Biden/Harris pressure Israel once again to do less than it should?"
Waltz recently detailed his foreign-policy outlook, as well as the future Trump administration's, in an Economist essay by warning the U.S. is currently "bogged down in wars in Europe and the Middle East," while also sharply criticizing the Biden administration for undercutting Israel over the course of the Gaza and Lebanon wars and amid a looming war with Iran.
"The next administration should, as Mr. Trump argued, 'let Israel finish the job' and 'get it over with fast' against Hamas. They should put a credible military option on the table to make clear to the Iranians that America would stop them building nuclear weapons, and reinstate a diplomatic and economic pressure campaign to stop them and to constrain their support for terror proxies," he wrote, adding Washington should "maintain a military presence in the region, but with the war in Gaza and Lebanon concluded, it can transfer critical capabilities back to the Indo-Pacific."
"Naive attempts to engage Iran and prematurely ease sanctions provided Iran with resources to bankroll terror throughout the region and reduced the chance of a nuclear deal. Instead of renewing economic pressure and fully backing Israel's military response to Iran and its terror proxies after the October 7th attacks, the White House restrained Israel and the Pentagon due to overwrought fears of 'escalation,'" Waltz wrote.
"Undue passivity only invited more aggression. In a historic first, Iran launched massive drone and missile barrages directly against Israel in April and October, and the United States had to spend billions of dollars in scarce air- and missile-defence assets to shoot down the attacks," he continued.
Lamenting that "Naval assets that should be deterring China were redirected to the Middle East, including a two-carrier presence in the region this summer," Waltz further rejected Biden's push for a cease-fire, insisting Israel should be granted free rein.
"In the Middle East, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris are calling for a ceasefire that would, in effect, leave Hamas terrorists in power in Gaza, while they prayed that Tehran did not build a nuclear weapon before the election," he wrote. Waltz has also championed the war in Ukraine and accused Biden of not helping enough.
With Trump also reportedly picking Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, it's looking like Miriam Adelson's $100 million "investment" in Trump's campaign is going to get her returns greater than even she could have imagined.
[Header image by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0]
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