Exclusive — Joni Ernst: Biden ‘Playing Politics’ with Americans Held Hostage by Hamas, ‘Making Terrorists Rejoice’

President Joe Biden is “playing politics” with the lives of Americans being held hostage by the Gaza-based terrorist Hamas group, according to Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. She slammed the 81-year-old Democrat leader for “playing into Hamas’s hands” and “making terrorists rejoice, instead of tremble in fear” by withholding support from the nation’s “greatest ally in the region,” Israel.

In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Friday, Ernst, a combat veteran who serves as the Senate Republican Policy Committee chair, accused the president of using American lives as pawns for political purposes.

“Biden is playing politics with American lives,” she said. 

“Even while Iran-backed Hamas is holding our citizens hostage, this president is withholding support from Israel to wipe these terrorists out,” she continued, adding that he is “playing into Hamas’s hands” and “making terrorists rejoice, instead of tremble in fear.”

The remarks come as Republican officials continue to lambaste the Biden administration for withholding crucial ammunition from Israel in its war on the Hamas terror group, accusing the president of “carrying water for the pro-Hamas mob” to “appease his radical anti-Semitic base” and the Democrat party’s “pro-Hamas wing” for his own personal political gain.

In a statement released in response to Biden’s threats, Sen. Ernst accused the president of having broken his supposedly “ironclad” commitment to the Jewish State: 

While his appeasement has failed to halt terrorist attacks in the Middle East, he has no right to withhold ammunition from our greatest ally in the region. There should be no wavering in U.S. support for Israel as they defend their right to exist and fight to bring Hamas-held hostages home. As he plays politics with these lives and abandons American civilians to Iran-backed terrorists, the Biden administration fails to admit the munitions he is denying are the precision tools needed to prevent civilian casualties. 

Though Biden is “trying to talk out of both sides of his mouth,” the Iowa senator vowed to “hold him accountable to his previously stated belief that providing arms to Israel is critical.” She also accused Biden of “hurting our ability to bring our hostages home.”

Along with Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), Ernst, who recently returned from a visit to Israel, had previously demanded answers from Biden on what ammunition his administration was reportedly withholding from Israel, if it was approved by Congress, and why Congress was not notified:

On Thursday, former President Donald Trump accused the “crooked” and “weak” commander-in-chief of “taking the side of these [Hamas] terrorists” just as he has “sided with the Radical Mobs taking over our college campuses”: 

As Breitbart News reported, several news outlets have confirmed that the Biden administration is withholding 3,500 bombs from Israel, which is currently battling Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terror group that attacked the Jewish state in October in an unprecedented and particularly brutal massacre.

In addition, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed at the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Wednesday that the U.S. is withholding a shipment of weapons from Israel over concerns about its ongoing attack on Hamas in Rafah — though the Jewish state’s security depends on disbanding Hamas’s remaining battalions there.

Lloyd Austin, secretary of defense, during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty).

Subsequently, Biden confirmed on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront that he had begun to limit transfers of American weapons to Israel out of moral opposition to operations in Rafah.

“I’ve made it clear to Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and the War Cabinet. They’re not going to get our support if, in fact, they go into these population centers,” he said, referring to those in Rafah. “We’re not walking away from Israel’s security. We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas.”

“We’ve held up the weapons,” he added:

In response, radical “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) celebrated the president’s declaration, insisting that “this is what young people across the country were protesting for.”

Ilhan Omar and daughter Isra Hirsi at Barnard College of Columbia University (Isra Hirsi/Instagram)

Critics of Biden’s decision have argued that withholding weapons that Congress has already authorized, absent any finding of human rights violations by Israel, is unconstitutional and violates the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

Sen. Ernst, co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was among 35 Senate Republicans asking Biden to provide specifics about his Palestinian refugee resettlement program, warning that the administration’s reported plan to accept Gazan refugees poses a “national security risk” to America. 

“With more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States,” they wrote to the president.

In March, Sen. Ernst slammed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over a highly unprecedented Senate speech in which he called for new elections in Israel. She accused the top Democrat of “turning his back on our greatest ally in the Middle East” and “playing right into the hands of Iran-backed Hamas.”

Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.