CLAIM: President Ronald Reagan, like President Joe Biden, withheld arms from Israel to influence its military policy.
VERDICT: MISLEADING. Reagan acted within the law, and in very different circumstances, in withholding arms.
The New York Times‘ Peter Baker — winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his newspaper’s bogus reporting on “Russia collusion” — wrote Friday that President Reagan, too, withheld weapons from Israel over concerns about their use.
Baker’s aim in the article appears to be to rescue Biden from some of the criticism he has faced since he confirmed earlier this week that the administration was withholding bombs and artillery from Israel over its Rafah operation.
Baker notes that the Reagan administration delayed the sale of jet fighters and the shipment of cluster munitions to Israel on several occasions.
In 1981, Reagan delayed the shipment of four F-16s to Israel over Israel’s successful attack on Iraq’s nuclear program (which the U.S. would later admit was a useful operation).
In 1982, Reagan delayed arms shipments over concerns that Israeli actions during the Lebanon War against Palestinian guerillas endangered locals. Like Hamas in Gaza, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had hidden in civilian areas, from which shelled civilian towns in northern Israel.
Baker noted: “In fact, Mr. Reagan used the power of American arms several times to influence Israeli war policy, at different points ordering warplanes and cluster munitions to be delayed or withheld.”
But there are several key differences between what Reagan did in the early 1980s and what Biden is doing today.
First, Reagan operated within the law, which requires the president to notify Congress of sales or pauses in weapons delivery. Biden did not follow the procedures of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), keeping Congress in the dark.
Second, both the Iraq nuclear strike and the Lebanon War were wars of choice, to some extent, in that Israel made the decision to attack. The current war in Gaza is a response to an unprovoked — and brutal — terror attack October 7.
It is one thing to delay or deny weapons to an ally that has made a calculated decision to attack an enemy. It is quite another to delay or deny weapons to an ally that has been invaded by terrorists who targeted and kidnapped civilians.
Third, Reagan’s policies were less controversial because the Republican Party itself was not thought as pro-Israel as it is today. Republican policy focused more at the time on the Arab states, whose oil supplies were vital to the U.S.
Biden’s decision to withhold arms is being interpreted as a betrayal, both because he has long touted his pro-Israel credentials, and because he made specific promises to Israel to ensure that it could defeat and destroy Hamas.
So while it is true that Reagan — and other U.S. presidents — have used pressure on Israel, including the delay or denial or arms, it is unprecedented to do so while Israel is still under attack and Israeli hostages are still in captivity.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
