Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.) told National Review in an interview Saturday that the United States must have a robust response to the ongoing Hamas attack against Israel, including ensuring the U.S. military has the capacity to aid Israel in its efforts to regain stability.
“I would make sure that we were in a position to move our Sixth Fleet into the area so as to provide backup, whether it’s humanitarian aid or assistance with hostages,” Scott said. The 2024 presidential hopeful told NR that, if he were in the Oval Office, he would want American troops to “be as close as possible and on call, so to speak, for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and Israel,” given all that has taken place in the past day.
The U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet, which operates as part of U.S. Naval Forces Europe–Africa, is headquartered in Naples, Italy. The unit has been involved in American operations including the 1958 intervention in Lebanon, a stand-off with the Soviet Union during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and launching air strikes during the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
Asked whether he would support an American presence on the ground in Israel in the event that the situation deteriorated further, Scott said he “would take nothing off the table.”
Scott told NR the variables involved in such a move would include “a position of strength as it relates to our assets, our intelligence, backing the IDF, and speaking with Netanyahu — and then you make that decision.”
The South Carolina senator emphasized numerous times in the interview the need to work in conjunction with the Israeli prime minister, making sure Netanyahu “knows that there is no daylight between Israel and America.”
As of this writing, the death toll from the Hamas rocket attacks and incursion into Israel’s southern region has risen to over 200, while more than 1,100 Israelis have been wounded. The terrorist organization claims to have abducted dozens of Israelis, though the Israel Defense Forces have not issued a specific number of hostages taken to Gaza.
Hamas, which the U.S. has recognized as a terrorist organization since 1997, was founded in 1987 as a splinter group of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian Islamist movement. Its ties with Iran date back to the 1990s, and aside from a brief period of time during which Tehran cut off support in response to Hamas’s opposition to the Assad regime in Syria, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has funded, armed, and trained Hamas terrorists.
Given the relationship between Hamas and Iran, Scott believes the ongoing violence against Israel is a symptom of the U.S.’s “presentation of weakness” on the world stage. Listing the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the current president’s initial statements allowing for a “minor incursion” from Russia into Ukraine, and America’s unpreparedness to defend Taiwan from a potential Chinese invasion as well, Scott told NR that the White House’s policies have made the world more dangerous for the U.S. and its allies.
“That type of weakness will only encourage bullies and dictators to take advantage of what they believe is Western decline,” he said. “That must be answered with strength.”
Despite the schism on the right over the proper understanding of America’s role in the world, as evidenced by mixed support for the continuation of funding for Ukraine, Scott believes the GOP will have “a far more solidified, unified conference in the House, and we have one in the Senate.”
“I do think that the United States recognizes that Israel is undeniably our ally, and it is — in my opinion and, frankly, the opinion of the vast majority of the Republican Party and the American people — one of the most important allies we have on the planet,” he told NR. “So standing strong, firm, and clear with Israel will not be a challenge.”