Kennedy questions Levitt, Pletka in Banking. In responding to Sen. John Kennedy, Danielle Pletka highlights the Biden admin’s Iran policy failures: “Every authority that is necessary to cut off Iran, Hamas…is already in the President’s hands. The question is never whether the President can. It’s whether the President will.”

Sen. John Kennedy slams Joe Biden for being soft on Iran and not enforcing sanctions. “It just looks to me like this administration is quoting Socrates in the middle of prison riot.”

Kennedy: Well, Qatar sends $10 million a month to run the place, does it not?
Witness: It has the Palestinian Authority which the people of Gaza rejected in favor of Hamas. Does Qatar pay Gaza’s electricity bill?

Kennedy: They keep the lights on for Hamas, don’t they?
Witness: To be clear, the people of Gaza didn’t reject the Palestinian Authority; Hamas took over with force of arms.
Kennedy: I don’t want to debate that.
Witness: Yeah, there’s not much to debate. The Palestinian Authority does provide salaries to its people in Gaza.
Kennedy: Does the Palestinian Authority pay for keeping the lights on in Gaza?
Witness: They pay for some of it, yes.
Kennedy: The UN sends money to educate the children in Gaza, does it not?
Witness: UN pays for some education in Gaza through their own agencies.
Kennedy: Is that a yes?
Witness: Yes, they provide the money into Gaza, yes.
Kennedy: The UN gives Hamas money to run hospitals, does it not?
Witness: UN runs hospitals in Gaza too, yes.
Kennedy: And in fact, doesn’t Hamas tax at the rate of 16.5% every bit of food and aid that comes into Gaza?
Witness: They do tax everything, and Hamas also levels an income tax, does it not?
Kennedy: President Biden’s Administration has not enforced the sanctions on Iranian oil, has it?
Witness: No.
Kennedy: So you agree with Miss Pletka?
Witness: I tend to make it a policy to try to agree with Miss Pletka whenever possible.

Kennedy: Well, you’re smart; you can tell she was smart. President Biden has not chosen to impose the Snapback sanctions under the JCPOA, has he?
Witness: Correct.

Kennedy: Miss Pletka, who has the $6 billion? It’s in a bank in Qatar.
Witness: Okay, so Qatar has control of it. In essence, that is correct.

Kennedy: Although, let me put it this way: If the Qatar bank tells them to do something, and the United States tells them not to do something, who’s the bank going to listen to?
Witness: That is the question before us right now. The bank is going to listen to the Qatari government.

Kennedy: Isn’t it a fact that back in 2021, Treasury, through special drawing rights at the International Monetary Fund, gave Iran $4.5 billion?

Witness: That’s what I understand, yes.
Kennedy: And they’d like to give them more, is that right?
Witness: That’s what I understand, yes.

Kennedy: that’s like cash money; it’s really a dividend you can cash in for US dollars, is that right?

That’s what I understand.

Kennedy: Wow, it seems to me that we could cut off Hamas or at least go a long way toward doing that by actually just enforcing the things that we already say we’re enforcing.

Every authority that is necessary to cut off Iran, Hamas, and every other terrorist group is already in the President’s hands. The question is never whether the President can; it’s whether the President will.

Kennedy: Why has the Biden Administration been so soft on Iran if we know it’s funding Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, their surrogates in Syria, and the PMF in Iraq? they just think love is the answer and that in a bar fight, and it just looks to me like this Administration is quoting Socrates in the middle of a prison riot.

Witness: That’s a very apt picture. I’m not a spokesman for the Biden Administration, so I can only give you my estimation. There has always been a problem in our compartmentalization in dealing with Iran. We have prioritized their nuclear program, their nuclear weapons program understandably, but we have not ignored but diminished the importance of their support for terrorism, their regional disruptions, and their human rights record. Those things need to change. We need to tighten the screws on Iran in every single aspect.

Kennedy: Peace through weakness never works, does it?
Witness: No

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Hamas tax 16.5% food & Aid; Yellen gave Iran $4.5B; Cut off Iran, Hamas already in Biden’s hands