Israel

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BUDD. Madam President, I rise today to express my total and complete support for the State of Israel.

On October 7, Hamas terrorists launched an unprovoked and despicable series of terrorist attacks inside of Israel. The level of barbarism that we witnessed was nothing short of evil incarnate with the mass slaughter of innocent civilians and unspeakable violence against women, children, and the elderly. It was the deadliest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. These crimes against humanity were also visited upon our American citizens as well. At last count, 30 Americans were murdered by Hamas, and others are currently being held hostage.

We pray for comfort for the families of those who were killed, and we continue to pray and work for the safe return of those who are unjustly being held by the terrorists.

Compounding these atrocities are the reactions in some parts of the world and even here in our own land, like the sickening anti-Semitic protests in city streets and on university campuses. These vile demonstrations celebrated, they justified, and they endorsed this violence. Simply put, there can be no place in our country for anti- Semitic bigotry.

But we have also seen some politicians--some who work in this very Capitol--express a cynical moral ambiguity, blithely declaring that both sides are at fault, explaining away the motives of the terrorists while preaching restraint from the nation that was attacked.

So, to those who need a reminder, there is a stark difference between the two sides here.

Israel is the Middle East's only democracy. They have been a force for stability in a region historically beset by chaos. They have been one of America's strongest friends in good times and in bad. When faced with attacks, they go out of their way to avoid civilian casualties, sometimes at the cost of their own Israeli lives. Israel is an unmistakable force for good.

Then you have the terrorists of Hamas. Their founding charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Their largest benefactor, Iran, lends its materiel and financial support to this cause of their destruction each and every day. They intentionally target civilians-- they fire rockets into crowded markets--and they preach the sort of hate that triggered the Holocaust.

Make no mistake, the only word to describe all of this is ``evil.'' And, unlike the Holocaust, we have seen this evil in realtime. We have seen it with our own eyes.

Evil is surrounding a music festival full of innocent young people and systematically hunting them down and slaughtering them on the side of the road. That is evil. Evil is kidnapping elderly women out of their homes and threatening on the internet to murder them. And evil is beheading and burning babies in front of their mothers and fathers.

The line between morality and depravity, right now, is as bright as it has ever been. As a country, we must not avoid the reality that this is good versus evil, because if we try to turn away from evil, if we try to deny that it is evil, or to beg for context to explain away the evil, then we do a disservice to our credibility, and we stain the soul of a nation.

We must stand shoulder to shoulder with the State of Israel. We must provide them with everything that they need to secure the safety of their nation and eliminate the threat of terrorism.

So I call on the Biden administration to project unequivocal strength to the forces of evil in our world. In this struggle between good and evil, America must lead the forces of good. And we must not fail.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source