III 111th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 548 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 9, 2010 Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Ensign, Mr. DeMint, Mr. Wicker, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Bond, Mr. Risch, Mr. McCain, Mr. LeMieux, Mr. Burr, and Mr. Chambliss) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations June 24, 2010 Committee discharged; considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble RESOLUTION To express the sense of the Senate that Israel has an undeniable right to self-defense, and to condemn the recent destabilizing actions by extremists aboard the ship Mavi Marmara.

Whereas the State of Israel, since its founding in 1948, has been a strong and steadfast ally of the United States, standing alone in its commitment to democracy, individual liberty, and free-market principles in the Middle East, a region characterized by instability and violence; Whereas the special bond between the United States and Israel, forged through common values and mutual interests, must never be broken; Whereas Israel has an undeniable right to defend itself against any threat to its security, as does every nation; Whereas Hamas is a terrorist group, formally designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Secretary of State, and similarly designated by the European Union; Whereas Hamas is committed to the annihilation of Israel and opposes the peaceful resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; Whereas Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 through violent means and has maintained control ever since; Whereas Hamas routinely violates the human rights of the residents of Gaza, including attempting to control and intimidate political rivals through extra-judicial killing, torture, severe beatings, maiming, and arbitrary detentions; Whereas Hamas continues to hold prisoner Israeli Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit, who was seized on Israeli soil and has been denied basic rights, including contact with the International Red Cross; Whereas the military build-up of Hamas has been enabled by the smuggling of arms and other materiel into Gaza; Whereas the Government of Iran has materially aided and supported Hamas by providing extensive funding, weapons, and training; Whereas since 2001, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations have fired more than 10,000 rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel, killing at least 18 Israelis and wounding dozens more; Whereas approximately 860,000 Israeli civilians, more than 12 percent of Israel’s population, reside within range of rockets fired from Gaza and live in fear of attacks; Whereas in 2007, the Government of Israel, out of concern for the safety of its citizens, put in place a legitimate and justified blockade of Gaza, which has been effective in reducing the flow of weapons into Gaza and the firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel; Whereas according to Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, If the sea lanes are open to Hamas in Gaza … they will acquire thousands of rockets that will threaten every single citizen in the state of Israel and also kill the peace process. … Hamas armed with thousands of rockets not only threatens 7,500,000 Israelis but it’s the end of the peace process.; Whereas the Israeli blockade has not hindered the transfer of approximately 1,000,000 tons of humanitarian supplies into Gaza over the last 18 months to aid its 1,500,000 residents; Whereas, on May 28, 2010, the Free Gaza flotilla, which included the Mavi Marmara and 5 other ships, departed from a port in Turkey and sailed towards Israel’s defensive naval blockade of Gaza; Whereas the sponsor of the flotilla was a Turkish organization, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation; Whereas the Humanitarian Relief Foundation has aided al Qaeda in the past, basically helping al Qaeda when [Osama] bin Laden started to want to target U.S. soil, according to statements by a former French counterterrorism official, in a June 2, 2010, Associated Press interview; Whereas the Humanitarian Relief Foundation has a clear link to Hamas, according to a 2008 order of the Government of Israel, and the Humanitarian Relief Foundation is a member of the Union for Good, a United States-designated terrorist organization created by Hamas leaders in 2000 to help fund Hamas; Whereas there were at least 5 active terrorist operatives among the passengers on the Mavi Marmara, with affiliations with terrorist groups such as al Qaeda and Hamas, according to the Israel Defense Forces; Whereas the flotilla’s primary aim was to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza; Whereas, on May 27, 2010, while the flotilla was moving towards Gaza, one of its organizers admitted, This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege on 1,500,000 Palestinians, according to news reports; Whereas based on interviews with Mavi Marmara passengers after the incident, the actual intention of passengers on the Mavi Marmara had been to achieve martyrdom at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces; Whereas Saleh Al-Azraq, a journalist who was aboard the ship, recounted that, The moment the ship set sail, the cries of Allahu Akbar began … It made you feel as if you were going on an Islamic conquest or raid, according to an interview recorded on Al-Hiwar TV on June 4, 2010; Whereas Hussein Orush, a Humanitarian Relief Foundation official, read from the diary of a dead Mavi Marmara passenger: The last lines he wrote before the attack were: Only a short time left before martyrdom. This is the most important stage of my life. Nothing is more beautiful than martyrdom, except for one's love for one's mother. But I don't know what is sweeter—my mother or martyrdom., and also stated, All the passengers on board the ship were ready for this outcome. Everybody wanted and was ready to become a martyr. … Our goal was to reach Gaza or to die trying. All the ship's passengers were ready for this. IHH was ready for this too., according to an interview recorded on Al-Jazeera TV on June 5, 2010; Whereas Ali Haider Banjinin, another dead Mavi Marmara passenger, told his family before departing on the flotilla, I am going to be a martyr, I dreamed about it, according to news reports in Turkey; Whereas Ali Ekber Yaratilmis, another dead Mavi Marmara passenger, always wanted to become a Martyr, one of his friends told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper in an interview on June 3, 2010; Whereas one female passenger on the deck of the Mavi Marmara stated, Right now we face one of two happy endings: either martyrdom or reaching Gaza, according to Al Jazeera footage taken prior to the incident; Whereas the Government of Israel had extended a reasonable offer to transfer the flotilla’s humanitarian cargo to Gaza; Whereas the Mavi Marmara and the other ships of the flotilla ignored repeated Israeli calls to turn around or be peacefully escorted to an Israeli port outside of Gaza; Whereas, on May 31, 2010, the Israeli Navy intercepted the Mavi Marmara 75 miles west of Haifa, Israel, in an effort to maintain the integrity of the blockade and prevent potential smuggling of arms and other materiel into the hands of Hamas; Whereas upon the boarding of the Mavi Marmara by the Israeli Navy, the Mavi Marmara’s passengers brutally and violently attacked the members of the Israeli Navy with knives, clubs, pipes, and other weapons, injuring several of them; Whereas the members of the Israeli Navy, under attack and in grave danger, reacted in self-defense and used lethal force against their attackers on the Mavi Marmara, shooting and killing 9 of them; Whereas the incident has fomented unwarranted international criticism of Israel and its blockade of Gaza; Whereas in the time since the attack, the United Nations has unjustly criticized the actions of the Government of Israel and called for an investigation of such actions; and Whereas the actions of the United Nations are undermining Israel’s inherent right to self-defense, compromising its sovereignty, and helping to legitimize Hamas: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the Senate— (1)that Israel has an inherent and undeniable right to defend itself against any threat to the safety of its citizens; (2)to reaffirm that the United States stands with Israel in pursuit of shared security goals, including the security of Israel; (3)to condemn the violent attack and provocation by extremists aboard the Mavi Marmara, who created a highly destabilizing incident in a region that cannot afford further instability; (4)to condemn any future such attempts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza for the purpose of creating or provoking violent confrontation or otherwise undermining the security of Israel; (5)to condemn Hamas for its failure to recognize the right of Israel to exist, its human rights abuses against the residents of Gaza, and its continued rejection of a constructive path to peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people; (6)to condemn the Government of Iran for its role, past and present, in directly supporting Hamas and undermining the security of Israel; (7)to encourage the Government of Turkey to recognize the importance of continued strong relations with Israel and the necessity of closely scrutinizing organizations with potential ties to terrorist groups.