U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaking at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 29, 2023. (Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA)
On October 25 of this year, Congressman Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) was elected the 56th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In that position, he is second in the line of succession for the Presidency of the United States.
He is a strong supporter of the State of Israel and sat down for an exclusive interview with me for ALL ISRAEL NEWS…covering topics ranging from the alarming rise of anti-Semitism on American college campuses to what many see as unwanted interference in Israel’s campaign to eradicate Hamas.
Johnson’s very first act upon assuming the Speakership was to push through legislation providing $14.5 billion in emergency aid to Israel.
“Within an hour of my being handed the gavel and taking the oath, we passed a resolution expressing the House’s support of Israel, our great ally and dear friend. And within a couple of days we passed that aid package.”
That amount was what had been requested when Johnson spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the Speaker of the Knesset and Israel’s defense minister. But although the bill was passed in the House on a bipartisan vote, Johnson says it has been on U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s desk “collecting dust for 7 weeks now.”
Speaker Johnson says Schumer and other Democrats “pay lip service to supporting Israel, but if they really do, they should pass it.”
He was equally candid in criticizing the Biden administration for the “unreality” of its interference this week in Israel’s prosecution of the war with Hamas. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan suggested in a closed-door meeting in Jerusalem that Israel should “lower the intensity” of fighting against Hamas. This came on the heels of President Joe Biden’s statement that Israel “needs to be more careful” in its military actions because civilians are being killed. Speaker Johnson feels statements like these only serve to embolden Hamas in its terrorism.
“They are not rooted in reality,” Johnson declared. “We need to stand with Israel and allow them to develop their strategy and stop trying to micromanage this. Instead of inserting opinions from this White House, which has done nothing except project weakness on the world stage.”
Beyond the Hamas attacks on October 7, Speaker Johnson says he believes the Biden foreign policy—from its abrupt scramble out of Afghanistan to lack of resolve by flip-flopping on approaches to Israel— “have created the environment and the circumstances for all of this aggression from our adversaries around the world.”
On a separate subject, Johnson spoke out against the rise of antisemitism on college campuses in the United States and demonstrations calling for the “genocide of Jews” which have largely gone uncriticized by university presidents and other administrators.
“We’ve been seeing the rise of this rank hypocrisy on university campuses and these absurd speech codes and other things,” Johnson says, noting that a video of recent Republican hearings into anti-Semitism has now been seen over 1.5-billion times worldwide. “The backlash (against campus demonstrators) has been appropriate. We’ve got to have some focus and clarity on this; we have Jewish students who are fearful to go to class or to have their identity be known.”
Since those recent Congressional hearings, Ivy League president Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania has been forced to “voluntarily” resign and pressure is being stepped up. So, the Speaker sees his use of the powers of leadership on Capitol Hill as not just generating heat but also producing results.
Johnson believes many faculty members and professors are on the side of the anti-Semites, which he says is unacceptable. He considers it part of his duty as Speaker to continue to shine the white-hot light of publicity on this issue, and has committed the GOP caucus in the House to that end.
As an Evangelical Christian himself, Speaker Johnson says “It is a promise of Scripture that when you do something that God’s called you to do, the burden is light, and the yolk is not heavy.” He notes that the Speakership of the House of Representatives was never a position he aspired to, but a unique set of political circumstances placed him in that position and his faith is carrying him forward to serve America and the world.
Citing himself and other leaders in positions of authority, Mike Johnson is firm in his belief that “We who are in posts of influence have to stand unequivocally for good… the entire world is looking to see how strongly the U.S. will stand with Israel and how resolved we will be. And that’s a really strong thing for us all to remember.”
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