Ukraine and Israel Inherently Intertwined

Floor Speech

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Ms. HOULAHAN. Mr. Speaker, we cannot rely on words alone to repel Russian aggression in Ukraine nor to extinguish terrorism in the Middle East. Rather, we must also provide material support to our democratic partners, as well. We must not cleave Israel and Israeli funding and Ukraine and Ukrainian funding into two separate spending votes because their fight for freedom is actually one and the same.

The stories of Ukraine and Israel are inherently intertwined, and I am the daughter of their woven histories and struggles. With forged papers, my Jewish father evaded the Nazi threat in Lviv. The vast majority of his family was murdered in the Holocaust, but the few who survived emigrated to the United States, Australia, and Israel.

It is an absolute dereliction of our duty to democracy to condition and politicize our support for Israel or Ukraine. To do so would signal to our adversaries abroad that we don't have the willpower, that we don't have the courage, to stand up to authoritarianism or extremism wherever it rears its ugly head.

We cannot send that message. We cannot appease evil. We cannot afford to backslide in defense of democracy.

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