AP Photo Palestinians rescue a girl from the rubble of a destroyed home after an Israeli airstrike, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, leaving more than 900 people dead. Taking prisoners. Israel launched heavy retaliatory airstrikes against the enclave, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
ALPENA — Congressman Jack Bergman said he supports Israel 100% and condemned Saturday’s attack on the country by the terrorist organization Hamas.
Hamas invaded Israel and killed, tortured, and kidnapped civilians, including some Americans.
Bergman, a Watersmeet Republican who represents all of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, pointed directly to Iran as the mastermind behind the attack, which used Hamas as a proxy. Bergman also called the tactics used in attacks on Jews animalistic behavior.
“We know for a fact that this is recognized and approved at various levels of the Iranian government, because Hamas would not have done this alone,” Bergman said. “They were Iranian attack dogs and were doing what they were told by higher powers.”
Iran denies involvement.
Bergman, a former Marine Corps lieutenant general, said he believed ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia gave Iran an incentive to plan and carry out the attack.
“Iran’s biggest fear is that Israeli-Saudi cooperation will succeed,” he said. “Iran had an incentive to break down the negotiations and use Hamas as an enforcement force.”
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said 14 Americans had been killed in fighting in Gaza and that other American citizens could be taken hostage. Biden has expressed support for Israel.
Bergman also said the current crisis at the U.S. southern border, where thousands of immigrants are illegally entering the country, could allow some bad actors to slip in undetected.
“For several years now, we have been on the terrorist watch list, detaining and prosecuting people attempting to enter the county,” he said. “The problem is we don’t know how many people managed to get through and where they are.”
In August, the United States signed a deal with Iran that secured the freedom of five Americans detained in the country in exchange for Iran giving access to $6 billion of its own funds frozen in South Korean banks. announced.
The funds are made up of Iranian oil revenues that have been frozen since 2019, when then-President Donald Trump imposed a ban on Iranian oil exports and sanctions on Iran’s banking sector.
The Biden administration’s deal also included the release of five Iranians held in U.S. prisons.
Qatar’s central bank oversees the funds, and Iran is only required to access them to pay for items such as medicine and food.
Bergman said Biden should freeze that money. He said the United States should stop paying bad actors to release prisoners of war or halt nuclear weapons development. Bergman said all it can do is show weakness and others will try to extort from the United States.
“This is another example of the Biden administration appeasing Iran by falling asleep at the wheel,” he said. “Appeasement doesn’t work, it emboldens others, but that’s how the regime deals with it. This time they made a grave miscalculation.”
The war in Ukraine continues as the war between Israel and Hamas begins.
Bergman said he still supports giving money to Ukrainians to help defeat Russia, but that the Ukrainian government needs to be more transparent about how money it receives from the United States is used. He said he thinks there is.
“I want to know how every last dollar is spent and how it’s spent to make sure all militias don’t go to the black market,” Bergman said. Told. “Ukraine and other countries have a history of corrupt government practices. I say trust is earned, not given; trust but verify.”
