Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday suggested the UNIFIL peace keeping force along Israel’s border with Lebanon a “miserable failure.”
The senator’s statement followed a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with a delegation of US Senators. They discussed the security challenges in the Middle East, and Netanyahu briefed his guests on Iran’s attempts to establish a military presence in Syria, stressing that Israel is determined to prevent it.
Netanyahu thanked the Senators and Representatives for America’s support for Israel and welcomed President Trump’s decision to implement the law recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel. He added that bilateral relations were closer than ever.
In a press conference after the meeting with the PM, Sen. Graham said he plans to urge Congress to increase funding of Israel’s missile defense program, noting that Israel provides the US more intelligence than any other country in the world.
Regarding the confrontation at Israel’s border with Syria close to two weeks ago, Graham suggested the US must hold Iran, as well as Hezbollah, responsible, should there ever by a massive missile attack on Israel from southern Lebanon. He also called the UNIFIL peace keeping force a “miserable failure.”
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister met with two Congressmen, Scott Tipton (R-Co) and David B. McKinley (R-WV), who had been detained by police on the Temple Mount in the morning, after a Waqf agent complained that one of them had leaned over to pick up an olive branch from the floor.