Jewish GOP House members call on Biden to ratchet up Israel response

The two Jewish GOP House members — Reps. Max Miller (R-Ohio) and David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) — are calling on President Biden to take a series of firm actions in opposition to Palestinian militant group Hamas in order to ratchet up the administration’s response to its ongoing conflict with Israel.

Miller said he is urging Biden to seek extraditions of Hamas members in the United States’s allied nations.

“What I want to see out of this administration and President Biden and Democrats and Republicans here, is I want to see President Biden go after our allies that we have … and extradite these Hamas terrorists,” Miller said Wednesday following a closed-door briefing on the ongoing conflict.

Miller further called on the Biden administration “to get out of Israel’s way and to let Israel do what it needs to do best,” without being measured.

“In my opinion, we have been measured since 1948, and Israel has been measured since 1948 in their approach,” Miller said. “I believe that they need to do what they need to do in order to keep Israelis safe,” he continued, referring to the 1948 creation of the state of Israel.

Attacks from the militant group, which has run the Gaza Strip since 2007, have claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Israelis through sea, land and air invasions and rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

While Biden condemned Hamas’s “abhorrent” attacks Tuesday and reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel, Kustoff said Wednesday he “strongly urges” Biden to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. and meet him in the Oval Office.

“That message to the rest of the world is so important,” Kustoff said. “We need to speak with the united front. The rest of the world needs to know that the United States is firmly behind Israel.”

The conflict has claimed at least 2,300 lives from both sides in just a matter of days as the fighting rages on in both Israel and Gaza. That number is expected to rise.

The Biden administration offered military support in the wake of the attacks, confirming a U.S. carrier strike group was moving closer to Israel on Tuesday to “deter any actor” looking to escalate or widen the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The strike group includes the U.S. Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, along with multiple missile cruisers and missile destroyers. The Pentagon is also taking steps to bolster the U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft squadrons in the region, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.