Leader Cantor Applauds Passage of Israel Resolution

Press Release

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) released the following statement applauding House passage of H. Res. 657, a bipartisan resolution sponsored by Representatives Steve Israel (D-NY) and Tom Cole (R-OK) expressing U.S. support for the State of Israel as it defends itself against unprovoked rocket attacks from the Hamas terrorist organization:

"Israel is one of our nation's strongest democratic allies and its security is directly tied to our own. Hamas' outrageous and unprovoked war against Israel must end. Until Hamas accepts the Quartet principles, abandoning violence and recognizing Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, there will not be peace. There is no justification for Hamas' violent assault on Israel, which withdrew completely from Gaza in 2005. Since then, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have lobbed thousands of rockets into Israel and Hamas staged a coup against the Palestinian Authority, assuming complete control over Gaza and turning it into a den of terrorism.

"We must also acknowledge Iran's role in this conflict. Just as Iran has fueled sectarian violence and extremist terrorism in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, it has long provided Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad with lethal support to aid in their unrelenting war of terror against Israel. I call on the Obama Administration to dispense with the fantasy that Iranian President Rouhani is a reformer and acknowledge the Iranian regime for what it is: the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism and a driver of regional instability. The Obama Administration should redouble efforts to impose meaningful consequences on Iran's support for terrorism, its efforts to foment instability throughout the region, its egregious human rights record, and its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and long-range ballistic missiles."

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