Budd: No more Israel aid without border funding, no update on NC hostage
U.S. Sen. Ted Budd on Tuesday called for the extradition of Hamas leaders to the U.S. and expressed frustration with a key Middle Eastern ally, saying Qatar shouldn’t allow the group that attacked Israel to operate from Doha.
“There's really no excuse to be hosting them at this point when they showed their colors two months ago, and committed these heinous crimes against Americans, against other people from other countries,” Budd, R-N.C., said during a call with reporters.
Budd’s comments came as reporters asked him for an update on the location or condition of Keith Siegel, a Chapel Hill native who was taken hostage in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Siegel and his wife, Aviva, live in Israel, in a kibbutz near the border with Gaza. They were among hundreds of hostages kidnapped by Hamas. Aviva Siegel was released last week, but Keith Siegel remains a captive.
Asked by WRAL News if he had received any new information from U.S. or Qatari intelligence, Budd said: “That's not really anything we can discuss. We're going to push each and every day for the Qataris to do more, and again, be meaningfully engaged in this. They are our allies, and we want them to do more.”
He added that the members of Hamas who committed or supervised the attack on Israel “need to be extradited to the U.S. and prosecuted in our courts of law for murdering U.S. citizens.”
The U.S. State Department has not publicly called for the extradition of Hamas leaders from Qatar to the U.S. Qatar doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department declined to comment on Budd’s statement, saying only that, "As a general matter, the U.S. has been clear that there can be no more business as usual with Hamas."
Budd said he continues to support Israel’s attack on Gaza, despite global concerns about its high civilian death toll. Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry currently estimates more than 16,000 people have died, though Israeli officials claim about 5,000 of those were Hamas.
“They are following the laws of warfare, so they're minimizing civilian casualties to the best of their ability,” Budd said. “But let's remember that this is on Hamas. They started this.”
Budd said he would not support additional aid for Israel until Democrats agree to increase spending on security for the U.S. border with Mexico, a position both House and Senate Republicans have taken in the fight over additional aid for Israel and Ukraine.
“Before I think Americans need to spend taxpayer dollars to support countries overseas — and Israel would be at the top of that list, of course, they're one of our greatest allies in what can be a very unstable region — before we do that, we have to secure our southern borders,” Budd said.
Asked why the U.S couldn’t do both things at once, Budd reiterated his stance.
“We can do two things at one time. But let's do that one thing, which is the southern border. So that's not being included in a meaningful way,” he replied.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, a Greensboro-area Democrat, says her office has also been working to secure Siegel’s release. However, she disagrees with making aid for Israel contingent, saying the U.S. can prioritize both border security and foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine.
"The United States must stand with our democratic allies who are under attack by brutal dictators and savage terrorists," Manning said in a statement. "Until now, support for our allies has been bipartisan, powered by a shared belief that dictatorship and terrorism cannot win."
"Republicans have decided they’re willing to sacrifice our allies and our national security to make partisan gains on domestic priorities," Manning added.
