United States-Israel Rocket and Missile Defense Cooperation and Support Act
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Mr. NADLER of New York. Madam Speaker, we all hope for a peace agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians. Such an agreement, providing for adequate security safeguards for Israel, would benefit the citizens of Israel and would benefit the Palestinians. It would also help stabilize the Middle East and would inure to the national security interests of the United States.
Every American administration for the last 40 years has recognized that prerequisite to the successful conclusion of any peace agreement is the maintenance of Israel's qualitative military superiority over any potential combination of state and nonstate aggressors. In recent years, unfortunately, we have permitted Israel's military superiority to lag, to begin to fall down.
I want to congratulate the administration, the Obama administration for recognizing this and, in the last year and a half, sharply stepping up U.S. military assistance and U.S. military cooperation with Israel.
Now we also face the threat from Iran and the threat of 40,000 rockets and missiles supplied by the Iranians in Lebanon in the possession of Hezbollah, which has said that it wants to kill every Jew. It would be nice if all the Jews moved to Israel so they could kill them with one swoop. And this accumulation of 40,000 rockets has been done in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which has not been enforced. So, hence, this bill.
This bill, which comes to us from the administration, to provide 200-and-some-odd million dollars for the Iron Dome antimissile system is another step in maintaining Israel's military superiority and in protecting Israel's citizens against possibly unprovoked aggression and is an absolute prerequisite if we hope to see any peaceful settlement in the Middle East.
I, therefore, congratulate the administration on taking this step and on the steps it has made to maintain Israel's military superiority. I thank the sponsors, and I urge the passage of this bill.
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