A group of Democrats has smashed President Joe Biden for his decision to pause a weapons shipment to Israel and his threat to withhold more weapons.

The House Democrats led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer penned a letter to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday where they expressed that they were “deeply concerned” about the president’s decision.

“We are deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel, during a critical moment in the negotiations,” the letter said.

“Seven months after October 7, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the end of the Holocaust, Iranian-backed terrorist proxies continue to fire rockets and mortars into Israel and at Americans from all directions. At the same time, antisemitism is spreading globally like wildfire. We fear that public disputes with our critical ally only emboldens our mutual enemies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other Iranian-backed proxies. It also buttresses their agenda of chaos, brutality, and hate, and makes a hostage agreement even harder to achieve. Hamas still holds more than 130 hostages, including eight Americans, five of whom may still be alive,” the Democrat Congress members said.

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“Just this week, Hamas fired multiple attacks at the Kerem Shalom Crossing, killing Israeli soldiers, forcing a temporary closure, and potentially preventing vital humanitarian aid from reaching innocent Palestinians. Stalling these shipments will allow terror groups to continue stealing humanitarian aid, ultimately putting innocent Palestinians at even greater risk. As the President confirmed after October 7, Hamas must be ‘eliminated entirely,’” the letter said.

“With democracy under assault around the world, we cannot undermine our ally Israel, especially in her greatest hour of need. America’s commitments must always be ironclad.

“We have a duty to continue to equip Israel with the resources she needs to defend herself and crush the terrorists who also seek to do America harm, free the hostages including the Americans, continue delivering critical humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in Gaza, and to stand by our democratic allies around the world. The President’s unyielding commitment to passing emergency supplemental funding for Israel showed the world our commitment. When we abandon these duties, we leave a vacuum of American leadership for our anti-democratic adversaries to fill,” it said.

“We would be grateful for a classified briefing about your decision and to better understand how and when the aid that Congress has authorized and appropriated for Israel will be delivered,” it said.

The signatories included Reps. Gottheimer (NJ-5), Golden (ME-2), Costa (CA-21), Davis (NC-1), Frankel (FL-22), Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-3), Gonzalez (TX-34), Horsford (NV-4), Landsman (OH-1), Lee (NV-3), Manning (NC-6), Meng (NY-6), Moskowitz (FL-23), Norcross (NJ-1), Pallone (NJ-6), Panetta (CA-19), Ryan (NY-18), Schneider (IL-10), Soto (FL-9), Stevens (MI-11), Suozzi (NY-3), Torres (CA-35), Torres (NY-15), Vargas (CA-52), Veasey (TX-33), and Wasserman Schultz (FL-25).

In an interview with CNN anchor Erin Burnett the president said he informed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if his nation’s military goes into Rafah there would be a stop on weapons from the United States.

“I made clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gotten into Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem,” he said.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” the president said.

“It’s just wrong. We’re not gonna — we’re not gonna supply the weapons and artillery shells used,” he said.

“I’ve made it clear to [Netanyahu] and the war cabinet, they’re not going to get our support if in fact they go into these population centers,” he said.

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