Ernst meets with Netanyahu, leads delegation visit to Israel

Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst met in person Tuesday with top Israeli leaders, four days after the Iran-backed Hamas militant group launched a surprise assault on Israel from Gaza.

Ernst last week led a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, including Iowa GOP U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, of Ottumwa, to Saudi Arabia, United Arab emirate, Bahrain, Jordan and Israel to support peace in the region and deter Iranian aggression. The group left on its envoy before the attack over the weekend.

Tuesday, Ernst met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, as well as American civilians in Israel, as that country bombarded Gaza in response.

Over the last week, I’ve led a bipartisan, bicameral CODEL to the Middle East.

I was in #Israel earlier today to show my unwavering commitment to our allies and friends — including PM @netanyahu — and to hear directly from American citizens on the ground. pic.twitter.com/5YyOGfucW3

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) October 10, 2023

Ernst, co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, left the United State last week as part of congressional envoy to the Middle East aimed at encouraging Arab and Israelis leaders to move toward normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Axios reported.

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince this week pledged to stand by Palestine, dealing a blow to U.S. efforts to form a diplomatic relationship among the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“We want to see peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” Ernst told Radio Iowa in an interview Tuesday from Jordan after spending much of the day in Israel. “We know that Iran fears peace. They want more chaos and terror in the region. … It’s time that these allies and partners in the region stand united against Iran and these extreme terrorist proxies.”

Ernst said she and a few U.S. House members met with Netanyahu as well as the leader of the opposition party in Israel to “reassure the leadership in Israel as well as a number of American families that were there that we stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel.”

She the last three days have been filled “with absolute terror” for American and Israeli families. “They rounded up women and children and were beheading Israeli soldiers,” raping women and executing children, Ernst told Radio Iowa. “It was terror.”

Ernst said she talked to a brother and his sister whose 80-year-old father was taken away at gunpoint by terrorists.

“They have no idea where he is now, what has happened to him,” she said. “In that same event, their other brother was killed. They went house to house, destroying the homes. burning them down. They lit bodies on fire. They were intent on a reign of terror.”

Ernst, a retired Iowa National Guard officer who did a tour of duty in Iraq, said Hamas is a terrorist organization no different from ISIS or al-Qaida that “needs to be destroyed.”

“They are barbarians. They are savages, and the only way we move forward from this — the only way that Israel and Palestine will find a two-state solution — is if Hamas is gone,” Ernst said. “They need to eradicated from the face of the Earth. This is a time when the United States needs to stand with our strongest partner and ally, Israel.”

She said the “sadness and terror” in Israel is palpable, listening to stories of family members “that were hauled away by Hamas, children that were burned alive.”

Ernst also called for freezing $6 billion of Iranian assets that are part of a prisoner swap the Biden administration announced in August between the United States and Iran.

“Congress needs to come in and lean in heavy on this and make sure that those assets are frozen once again and make sure that Iran cannot access that money,” Ernst said. “We cannot continue to enable terrorism.”

Ernst also told Radio Iowa the United States must provide Israel with additional intelligence as well as munitions to restock its Iron Dome missile-defense system, and that House Republicans must quickly select a new speaker so Congress can act “and protect the interests of the nation abroad.”

Miller-Meeks has been in some of the overseas meetings with Ernst, including a visit Sunday to Saudi Arabia and Monday to Bahrain, but was not part of the delegation that visited Israel on Tuesday.

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