Concern For Israel

Floor Speech

First of all, let me say to my colleague who just spoke, we all abhor racial epithets and we all abhor prejudice, but one of the things that concerns me is that we have an awful lot of people who are upset about what is going on here in Washington, the Tea Party people and others, who really feel like they're not being listened to by the Congress of the United States. I don't want to see them tarred by the same brush as a few people who got out of line.

Obviously, we hate racial prejudice or anybody that says things like we've heard have been said, but all the people who are fighting against what's been taking place here and legislation like this national health care bill, they should not be condemned for coming to Washington and fighting for what they believe in because a few people got out of order. Obviously, we're concerned about people that say those things, and they shouldn't be saying those. They should be condemned.

But we should listen to the people who are here who are fighting for their rights and the things they believe in as far as health care is concerned. They don't want the government coming between them and their doctor. They don't want socialized medicine. And that's why they were out here. If a few got out of order, they should be condemned. But we should not tar all the people in this country--over 60 percent who didn't want that bill passed--with the same brush, and sometimes I think that's what's happening.

But that's not why I came down here tonight. I was just responding to my colleague who just spoke, who's a very good friend of mine. What I came down here to talk about was the shabby treatment that Benjamin Netanyahu from Israel has gotten when he has been here twice now to visit with the President. We met with Bibi Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, this week, the Foreign Affairs Committee on which I serve, and we talked to him about the threat of Iran, which is a threat not only to Israel and the Middle East, but it's a threat to the entire world. We get about 30 or 40 percent of our energy from the Middle East, and if that goes up in smoke because of the war, we're going to suffer economically because we are not energy independent.

One of my colleagues was down here talking about not being able to drill offshore or in the ANWR to move toward energy independence, and we're not. We're still dependent on the Middle East and South America and Mr. Chavez and Venezuela, people that don't like us at all; yet, we still depend on them and we're not moving toward energy independence.

So what happens if Israel is forced into doing something about Iran and a war breaks out in that whole area? The whole world will suffer and we will suffer economically because we won't have the energy with which to run our country and our economy. So this is very important.

Now, when the President meets with Bibi Netanyahu, it's obvious by his body language and the way he treats the Prime Minister of Israel that he doesn't agree with him on Israel's goals to preserve and protect their country. And that's not the way it should be, because right now Iran is not only trying to develop a nuclear weapon--and we think they're very close--but they're also trying to develop a delivery system that will not only hit targets in the Middle East like Israel, but targets in parts of Europe. And they're trying to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit parts of the United States. And if Iran gets nuclear weapons, all those countries around them are going to want to have nuclear weapons and this world is going to be put on the precipice of a nuclear holocaust that nobody wants.

This isn't baloney folks. This is what's really going to happen, Mr. Speaker.

So we need to do everything we can to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. They are a terrorist state that has waged war along with al Qaeda and the Taliban against us and our freedoms and against Israel as well. We need to do everything we can to make sure that they do not succeed. Those people are terrorists, and we're at war against terrorism. And so we have to be absolutely committed to stopping them from developing that nuclear capability, and that means we have to work with Israel, our only really strong ally in the Middle East, who wants to do something about this.

Bibi Netanyahu knows what's at stake. The millions of lives of Israelis that are there will be the first target, and they will be blown up and attacked if Iran gets nuclear weapons. And Israel's going to have to take action. If they take action by themselves, it could be a catastrophic situation. They need our help, and the President of the United States should know that the majority of this Congress supports Israel's right to exist and supports them in their effort to stop Iran from developing nuclear capabilities.

So, if the President were listening tonight, I would say this to him, Mr. Speaker: Mr. President, listen. The majority of both the House and the Senate supports giving Israel the ability to defend itself and to defend our interests in the Middle East, to work with us to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons that will threaten not only the Middle East, but the entire world. I think, Mr. President, you ought to go out on the lawn of the White House and declare your support for Israel, their right to exist, their right to survive, and that we're with them to stop Iran from developing nuclear capability.

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