On Friday, former vice president Mike Pence declared that if he were elected president, he would send soldiers into Gaza.
“We’re talking about Americans now,” Pence, a 2024 GOP presidential primary candidate, told CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “Jake, we’re talking about Americans that have been captured and taken hostage, by the brutal Hamas terrorists.”
Pence declared that he “welcomed” the release of the two Americans who had been held captive by Hamas, a Palestinian militant organisation, during their earlier this month attack on Israel.
“I said the better part of two weeks ago, Jake, that if I was president, I would have already been on the phone with the Joint Special Operations Command, I would have given orders for Delta Force and the Navy SEALs to be prepared to work with Israeli Defense Forces to engage in hostage rescue and then I woulda told Hamas that you have– you got 12 hours to turn loose every American, every Israeli hostage or we’re gonna come and get ’em,” Pence said.
Biden said he was “overjoyed” at the release of the two American hostages yesterday in a statement.
“These individuals and their family will have the full support of the United States government as they recover and heal, and we should all respect their privacy in this moment,” Biden said.
There are other Republican presidential primary contenders besides Pence who have expressed support for US military intervention in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who served as governor of Arkansas, announced on Thursday that he would petition Congress to approve the use of force against Hamas.
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“As President, I would ask Congress to give authorization for military force against Hamas,” Hutchinson, a 2024 GOP presidential primary candidate, said in an interview on NewsNation.
