Exclusive: Ted Cruz Accuses ‘Virulently Anti-Israel’ Biden Admin of ‘Funding’ Hamas Attack, Calls to ‘Stand with Israel’

The Biden administration — which is “the most consistently and virulently anti-Israel administration America has ever seen” — funded Saturday’s brutal Hamas terrorist attack in Israel “in a very real and concrete way,” according to Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — who warned that President Joe Biden has boosted the Iranian threat to both America and the world — and called to cut off all funds the current administration is “flowing to Gaza” and, instead, “stand unequivocally with Israel.”

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Thursday, Cruz, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, addressed the “horrific war” unfolding in the Middle East as he described Hamas’s attack on Israel on Saturday as the “greatest attack in 50 years” that Israel has faced.

“On Saturday, we saw the biggest mass murder of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust. This horrific act of terrorism. Death squads going house to house, exterminating every person in the house. Systematically looking for civilians, killing elderly people, killing women and killing children, decapitating infants, raping women and girls, dragging them through the streets, taking them hostage, and using them as human shields or dragging them back to Gaza — it is unspeakable,” he said.

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Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Stephanie Hallett via Storyful

“It is evil, and what they are doing constitutes war crimes,” he added.

Biden’s “Despicable” Response

Cruz then slammed the current administration’s “despicable” initial response to reports of what was happening. 

“The first reaction of the Biden administration at two in the morning on Saturday was to send out a tweet from the State Department, demanding that Israel do nothing, demanding that Israel stand down, demanding that Israel not engage in any military response, and explaining that violence solves nothing.”

“It was a despicable tweet,” he added. 

.@USPalAffairs deleted it but here's what they tweeted: pic.twitter.com/6NvEyrMltd

— Darin Miller (@DarinBMiller) October 7, 2023

Having responded within minutes to denounce the post and call for “everyone involved in drafting or approving the message” to be “fired from the U.S. government,” Cruz noted that “within the hour, the State Department deleted the tweet.”

However, shortly after, Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent another tweet, Cruz explained, “saying much the same thing: that Israel should not engage in military action and that there should be a ceasefire.” 

“In other words, Israel should simply sit back and accept the mass murder of what is now over 1,200 Israelis, including 22 Americans, who have been murdered,” he said.

“Again, I called out that tweet as despicable, and again, thankfully, the State Department deleted that tweet,” he added.

Tweet deleted. It was absolutely disgraceful. The U.S. must ensure Israel has all the weapons and the time it needs to utterly destroy Hamas. Calling for premature ceasefires means siding with Hamas and absolving Hamas of murder, rape, torture, and unspeakable war crimes. pic.twitter.com/xS5SyaeYFq

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 9, 2023

According to Cruz, those were the “instincts” of the Biden administration telling Israel immediately to “do nothing, stand down, [and] do not go after the terrorists.”

“Those instincts were wrong,” he stated.

While he approved of the Biden administration’s eventual managing to get together a statement that it stands with Israel, Cruz explained that “talk is cheap,” whereas action is “far more important.”

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Funding Iranian Terror

Cruz also accused the Biden administration of funding the unprecedented terrorist attacks on Saturday “in a very real and concrete way.”

“In the last two and a half years, Joe Biden has flowed more than $50 billion into Iran,” he stated. “Hamas is a proxy for Iran. Iran planned this attack. Iran funded this attack. Iran directed this attack, and it was paid for using the billions that Joe Biden sent to Iran.”

Addressing the “most visible” $6 billion the Biden administration announced it was giving to Iran as ransom for five American hostages just weeks ago, Cruz noted that, at the time, he had denounced it as a “terrible idea.” 

“It was effectively setting a bounty on the head of every American and saying that the Biden administration would pay $1.2 billion per American hostage,” he stated. “And the result — the predictable result, the obvious result — was that more Americans would be taken hostage and that Iran would take more Americans hostage.”

Unfortunately, Cruz stated, he did not realize the prediction “would come true so quickly.”

“Just weeks later, we now have upwards of 20 Americans who’ve been taken hostage by these Hamas terrorists, no doubt incentivized by the bounty the Biden administration laid out,” he stated.

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However, he suggested, the $6 billion was “just the tip of the iceberg.” 

“Several weeks earlier, the Biden administration had freed up $10 billion from Iraq to flow to Iran; that ups the total going into Iran to $16 billion, and even that is not the biggest portion,” he stated. 

When Biden became president, Cruz noted, Tehran was “on its knees.” 

“Its economy was in shambles, and the reason is that Iran’s principal source of revenue is selling oil, [and] the United States had very tough oil sanctions in place,” he said. “I spent most of the Trump administration urging President Trump to vigorously enforce those sanctions; he did so, and the result was that it crippled the Iranian economy; it cut off their oil sales.”

In contrast, prior to Trump vigorously enforcing those sanctions, Cruz stated, Iran was “selling one million barrels a day of oil, [which] was funding their terrorist activity [and] research into nuclear weapons.” 

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“When the Trump administration began vigorously enforcing those oil sanctions, their oil sales plummeted, [whereas] when Joe Biden came in, he immediately refused to enforce the oil sanctions, and as a result, Iran’s oil sales have skyrocketed,” he explained. “They are, right now, selling two million barrels of oil a day, primarily to China, that is the economic lifeblood of the Ayatollah that is funding the regime; that is funding their research for nuclear weapons, and it is funding the terrorism that is unfolding right now in Israel.”

Calling it “all fine and good for Joe Biden to give a speech and to finally light up the White House in blue and white,” Cruz insisted if he “actually wanted to stand with Israel, what he would do today is enforce U.S. law and shut down the Iranian oil sales.” 

“The Biden administration is unwilling to do so because they want to continue funding the theocratic, homicidal, and genocidal regime that is directing this grotesque terror attack on Israel,” he said.

He also suggested that the objective of the Biden administration is to grant Iran the means to provide a nuclear umbrella to protect violent proxies such as Hamas and pose a threat to both America and the world.

“The current administration fully understands that the result of all of these policies will be a nuclear Iran with nuclear weapons. They are OK with that; they want that,” he said. 

Iranian Spies, Sympathizers as Advisers

The Iran policy in the Biden administration was led by embattled former U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley, Cruz stated, describing him as “such an extreme advocate for Iran that he’s been fired from his job because his security clearances were stripped.” 

“It has not been publicly acknowledged what he did that was so severe to have his security clearances stripped, but what we do know is that three of Malley’s top advisers were operatives working for the Iranian government. They were Iranian operatives who were recruited by the Iranian government. They were reporting directly to the Iranian Foreign Minister. They were spying on the Biden administration, and they were operating at the direction of the Iranian Foreign Minister,” he said.

One of those three, he noted, is still a senior official in the Biden administration.

“She is a chief of staff in the Department of Defense. They have not, to the best of our knowledge, terminated her [or] eliminated her security clearance,” he stated. “So, she still has access to top secret and classified information while being a literal Iranian operative and Iranian spy!” 

“Is it any wonder [that] at least one of those operatives, in written emails with the Iranian government official directing his operations, explained that it was his view that because of his loyalty to Iran, he had to argue there was nothing wrong with Iran getting a nuclear stockpile?” he asked. “That is the view of the Biden administration, and it is the inevitable result of their policies if these policies don’t change.”

Directly Funding Hamas

In addition to the Biden administration funding the Hamas attacks through the $6 billion hostage deal, the $10 billion from Iraq, and the roughly $40 billion of oil revenues, Cruz also pointed to the current administration “directly sending hundreds of millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip.” 

“When they did so, I led a coalition of 17 senators demanding that they not send that money because Gaza is controlled by Hamas, and if you send that money to Gaza, Hamas will use that money to commit acts of terrorism,” he said. “At the same time [that] 17 of us in the Senate were urging the Biden administration not to fund Hamas terrorism, 145 House Democrats wrote a letter to the Biden administration demanding that they do send that money into Gaza — even though it was very likely to be used to fund Hamas terrorism.” 

Among those 145 House Democrats was Colin Allred, “the Democrat who’s running against me,” he noted.

“On this issue, he was urging the Biden administration to send the money to Gaza, even if it goes to terrorism, [whereas] I was urging the Biden administration, ‘Don’t send the money to Gaza, because it will go to terrorism,’ and we now know the resolution of those two letters, which is, the Biden administration assessed what was likely to happen, and they concluded that it was ‘very likely that the money would go to Hamas and be used for terrorism.’ 

The full quote from the Biden administration, he cited, was as follows: “Due to its overall strength and level of control over Gaza, we assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from US assistance to Gaza.” 

“That was their conclusion, that there was a high risk,” he said. “Now, why did they send the money [if], under U.S. anti-terrorism laws, you can’t send money when there’s a high risk it will be used for terrorism?” 

According to Cruz, the Biden administration was “so committed to their extreme political ideology, they waived U.S. anti-terrorism law, sent the money to Gaza, and in a very real and direct sense, that money they sent is funding the rockets that are raining down on Israel and the terrorist death squads that are murdering Israelis.” 

WATCH: Video Shows Hamas Rockets, Paragliders, Terrorists Streaming into Israel

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades via Storyful

Biden’s “Anti-Israel” Administration

Addressing potential concerns Israel can expect regarding long-term support from the Biden administration, Cruz accused the current administration of being “the most consistently and virulently anti-Israel administration America has ever seen” over the past two and a half years.

“Throughout their administration, they have staffed it with zealots who are profoundly anti-Israel, [which] reflects the modern Democrat party, where there are rabidly antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments routinely expressed by Democrat members of Congress, by members of the squad,” he said.

Just this week, he noted, a Democrat Member of Congress (Rashida Tlaib) refused to answer if she “had any views on Hamas terrorists beheading infants, burning children alive, and raping women in the streets, and she had nothing to say about that.” 

Watch:

“That is dramatic and extreme and dangerous,” he added, claiming that for two and a half years, the Biden administration has “systematically undermined Israel in a granular whole of government way.”

Bipartisan Pressure to Stand with Israel 

Cruz then expressed his hope that, in the coming weeks, there will be “congressional pressure” for the Biden administration to change its course. 

“I hope, in particular, congressional Democrats will be willing to stand up to the Biden administration and fight to cut off all of the funding to Iran, not just the $6 billion,” he said, highlighting several Democrats who have “come out this week for cutting off the $6 billion.”

“That’s too little, too late, but I’m glad they finally got there,” he said. 

However, he voiced his concern over the other funding.

“What about the $10 billion? What about the $40 billion?” he asked, as he called to “cut off all of the money that the Biden administration is flowing to Iran.” 

“We need to cut off all of the money that the Biden administration is flowing to Gaza, and we need to stand unequivocally with Israel, including helping them resupply Iron Dome and David Sling and Arrow Two and Arrow Three, their missile defense systems and their munitions, which are going to run low as they engage in a protracted war,” he stated.

“I do think there’s some prospect of congressional Democrats joining with congressional Republicans in standing with Israel together,” he concluded, “hopefully forcing the Biden administration to do the same thing.”

The matter follows Hamas’s multiple-pronged attack on Saturday, which saw the Gaza-based terror group resorting to abuse, executions, and kidnappings of men, women, children, and, at times, full families and even an elderly Holocaust survivor. 

In southern towns, the terrorists went door-to-door, shooting Jews and burning homes with families inside, proceeding to murder soldiers and infants alike, all while thousands of rockets rained down on Israeli civilian centers.

Footage obtained from the GoPro camera of a Palestinian terrorist shows how during the massacre at the outdoor festival near Re'im, terrorists open fire at the toilets where people were hiding following the first wave of infiltrators. Via South First Responders pic.twitter.com/SKj67Lrgol

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 13, 2023

While the exact number of individuals abducted remains unclear, Hamas terrorists have claimed more than 100. One senior Israeli military official shared a preliminary assessment that at least 150 Israelis were taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorists.

Hamas has since threatened to execute captives on live television.

Countless accounts from the attacks, described as reminiscent of the Nazi era, have revealed the hideous atrocities that victims faced. 

On Monday, Breitbart News reported that families of several kidnap and murder victims from Hamas’s savage attack said the terrorists used victims’ cell phones and social media accounts to send them graphic photos and taunting text messages.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crush Hamas, which he described as a “brutal enemy, worse than ISIS.”

🚨BREAKING: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu: “Every Hamas operative will die. Hamas is ISIS. We will crush them and get rid of them, just as the world crushed and got rid of ISIS”pic.twitter.com/gD5e2RMXbQ

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 11, 2023

“We are all fighting for our home,” he noted. “The unity among our nation in times of sorrow breaks beyond our boundaries and reaches the whole world.”

He concluded by quoting the biblical prophet Isaiah: “They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother: ‘Be of good courage.’”