Bring Them Home

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend Representative Schneider for bringing us together to push for the release of the hostages.

Mr. Speaker, it has been 6 months since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel to carry out gruesome attacks, raping, mutilating, slaughtering civilians, and taking innocent people hostage. Here we are 6 months later and 130 hostages remain captive in Gaza.

I recently returned from a congressional delegation trip to Israel. I saw firsthand the savage and diabolical nature of the October 7 attack.

I visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the communities that was burned and pillaged. I saw the devastating destruction that resulted when Hamas went house to house killing people by throwing grenades in their homes, spraying them with bullets, and setting their homes on fire while young people were hiding inside. The deliberate cruelty was shocking, gut-wrenching, and unforgettable.

Kibbutz Kfar Aza is where Aviva and Keith Siegel were taken by Hamas. Keith Siegel is an American citizen from my home State of North Carolina. For 6 months, Keith has been held hostage by these terrorists. I think about Keith and all the hostages every single day.

Aviva spent 51 days in captivity and thankfully she was released in November. Since her release, she has spoken out about the horrifying sexual abuse and violence she saw Hamas use on the hostages. It is hard to imagine what the women still being held captive today must be experiencing.

It is hard to anticipate the condition they will be in when they are finally returned. For the young women who are being raped and tortured, I am deeply worried that they will be pregnant as a result of their rapes in captivity.

During my visit to Israel, I met with Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, the chair of Israel's Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Families. She is working tirelessly to gather testimony and the evidence of the sexual abuse of women and families. She says the job of viewing and archiving the evidence is particularly tough on her staff.

So are the death threats they get from people who don't want to see the evidence of those horrific crimes collected for the world to see.

The accounts of sexual violence she shared can only be described as evil, carried out to inflict maximum physical, emotional, and psychological pain on women and girls.

We cannot allow the world to ignore what has happened and we cannot allow the world to forget the hostages. The world cannot be allowed to ignore the truth that Hamas has the power to end the war they started by releasing the remaining hostages.

Time and time again, Hamas has refused cease-fire deals and refused to release the hostages. It is shocking that the world is not protesting Hamas, calling out Hamas for starting this war and continuing it, hiding behind women and children, and prolonging the suffering of two peoples.

Let me be clear: Hamas must release the hostages and stop all the suffering they have caused and are continuing to cause.

Mr. Speaker, I thank, again, my dear friend, Representative Schneider, for his leadership and for organizing this time together for us to continue our call for every single hostage to be brought home.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source