'Need to stand with Israel': Mike Johnson slams 'shameful' Democrats on 'Fox & Friends' for appeasing 'pro-Hamas' wing in party
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: House Speaker Mike Johnson joined the panel of hosts to discuss his support of Israel on the Tuesday, April 16 l, episode of 'Fox & Friends'.
Johnson called out Washington Democrats for appeasement of the "pro-Hamas" wing of the party as they did not condemn anti-Israel and anti-American protests that broke out in various cities on Monday, April 15.
Anti-Israel protestors blocked traffic
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was shut for traffic by hundreds of anti-Israel protestors holding banners with the messages that read "Stop the world for Gaza" and "End the siege on Gaza now!" on Monday, while a similar demonstration was seen on Interstate 880 in Oakland.
In New York City, nearly 300 protesters gathered outside the New York Stock Exchange the same morning, chanting, "Free, free Palestine", "Palestine will never die", "from Wall Street to Palestine… intifada", and "Israel bombs. USA pays. How many kids did you kill today?"
Meanwhile, protesters blocked traffic to O'Hare Airport in Chicago, causing several hours of delay, and leading to the arrest of 40 people.
House Speaker Mike Johnson condemns the protests
When shown clips from the various protests and demonstrations that took place, House Speaker Mike Johnson stated, "What's so shameful about all this, for all the obvious reasons, is that we're turning our back on Israel, our critical ally and important friend."
"But the most shameful part about it, I'm afraid, is the silence that you hear from Washington. There's so many leading Democrats who refuse to speak out about this… I think they're appeasing the pro-Hamas wing of their party now, and that's a serious problem," he continued. "We need to stand with Israel, unequivocally," he added.
"I spoke to my counterpart, the speaker of the Knesset, Speaker [Amir] Ohana, about, 36 hours ago or so, and he thanked me and us, the Republicans, and others who have stood strong with Israel, with our voices, and that's a very important thing for them. I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu about a week ago, and he expressed the same sentiment. We've got to stand strong. We got to tell the world and show the world that Israel is not alone here," Johnson added.
House Speaker Mike Johnson calls out Democrats
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was slammed by Johnson for not speaking out against the protestors. "It's unconscionable that anybody would stand by that. Chuck Schumer is really responsible for Israel not being funded yet," Johnson said.
"Remember, we sent over an Israel funding package, back in October. It was within the first week of my being the speaker, we did a pay-for – we took it out of the IRS expansion slush fund to take care of that, but he refused to even address it, and it's been sitting on his desk," the House Speaker continued.
"We tried to pass Israel again about a month ago, and 166 House Democrats voted against that funding. Why? Because Joe Biden said he would veto it. It's really shameful," he added.
