The increased attacks aimed at Israel are a direct result of the Biden administration's mistake in going "back to the same failed policy" of the Obama administration, according to Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"Now the Hamas terrorists firing into Israel, I can't believe that the Biden administration is headed back to the same failed policy that they had for eight years with respect to Iran and the larger Middle East," Pompeo told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y.
Pompeo points to the funding coming from the Islamic Republic of Iran in bolstering "Iranian proxy forces" in an effort to wipe out the Israeli nation.
"The Iranians have made clear they have genocidal intent," Pompeo told host John Catsimatidis. "They want to wipe Israel off the face of the planet, and they use proxy forces – people like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
"The Israelis must defend themselves."
Pompeo rejected the "heck of a deal" of the Iranians writing checks to Hamas as it holds American hostages for ransom. Pompeo regrettably, expects President Joe Biden to pay, ostensibly funding Middle East terrorism just months after former President Donald Trump signed multiple peace deals in the region.
"This makes the United States in a very awkward position of using U.S. taxpayer resources to support organizations that are terrorizing Israel," Pompeo said, noting the relief "money's fungible" and will wind up in the hands of "corrupt leaders" who will give it to those "organizing terror campaigns."
"It's why President [Donald] Trump and our team got it right. We denied the Palestinians any money coming from the United States. We put real pressure on the regime in Iran. We took down their economy in a way that denied them the ability to underwrite exactly these kinds of programs."
Pompeo rebuked the Obama administration for paying Iran "150 billion all-in" and now the Biden administration entertaining payments for a release of hostages.
"I hope this administration figures out a way a way to do it," Pompeo said, but paying for hostages is not only ill-advised, it will become a catalyst for more terror and more hostage-taking by Iran.
"You can't pay money. You can't appease," he said. "If you do, if you tell them, 'hey take an American and we'll write you a check,' I can assure you, we'll be writing more checks and they'll be taking more Americans."
Pompeo pointed to the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack – which he said "looks to me like it's Russia" – but warned of the ransomware holdup for cash.
"Make no mistake about it — everyone is watching," Pompeo concluded. "There are lots of bad actors around the world for whom $1 million or $5 million or $50 million is a whole lot of money.
"If in fact that ransom was paid, I can assure you the world of hacking-ransom-seekers will have expanded greatly. The risk to American infrastructure for having now paid off these attackers will substantially increase."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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