[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 548 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 548
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 9, 2010
Mr. Cornyn submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
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, at the same time, the Government of Egypt imposed a blockade of Gaza
from its land border;
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
Resolved, 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; and
(8) to express profound disappointment with the
counterproductive actions of the United Nations regarding this
incident.
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