This spring, Garcia voted in favor of the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which rebuked the Biden administration for pausing an arms shipment to Israel to pressure it not to attack the Gaza city of Rafah. He also urged “expeditious delivery” of weapons and security services and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself.
“When I say that my support for Israel is ‘ironclad,’ I mean it,” Garcia said in a statement.
Whitesides said he supports continued aid to Israel to defend itself and to bring back hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that needs to be dismantled. They cannot be permitted to govern in Gaza or maintain their military capabilities,” he told The Times.
He said that civilian casualties in Gaza must be reduced and that he would “support efforts to dismantle Hamas so that Israelis and Palestinians can negotiate a two-state solution and promote normalization between Israel and the rest of the region.”