[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 11, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H5248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ISRAEL SHOULD BE COMMENDED FOR GOING AFTER TERRORISTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, today another suicide bombing happened in 
Israel. Sixteen innocent people were murdered and more than 150 were 
injured. The terrorist group Hamas took credit for it and the cycle of 
violence continues.
  Mr. Speaker, homicide bombers, suicide bombers cannot be tolerated. 
Israel, as any other nation, must do everything it can to go after 
terrorists, to root out terrorism. As President Bush said, there are no 
good terrorists, there are only bad; and every nation has an obligation 
to protect its citizens and go after the terrorists.
  That is why it was so disheartening to hear President Bush say 
Israel's attempted attack on one of the biggest Hamas terrorists, Mr. 
Rantisi was not helpful. I do not know whether a nation ought to think 
about what is helpful or not when they are trying to protect their 
citizens.
  We in the United States went halfway around the world to destroy the 
Taliban in Afghanistan not because the Taliban committed crimes against 
us, but because the Taliban harbored al Qaeda, which committed heinous 
acts against us. If we are justified, and we are, in going halfway 
around the world to destroy terrorists, surely Israel is justified to 
do the same in her own backyard. After all, it was President Bush who 
said Osama bin Laden wanted dead or alive, and it was President Bush 
who talked about Saddam Hussein and his connections with terrorists. We 
went into Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein. Certainly Israel should be 
encouraged to go after terrorists, not discouraged to go after 
terrorists; and we should not set a double standard for Israel, we 
should set the same standard as we would set for ourselves.
  Last week there was an agreement to try to proceed on a so-called 
road map for peace in the Middle East, and all parties agreed that the 
Palestinian prime minister, the Israeli prime minister and President 
Bush all talked about going along the path to peace. During that time 
the prime minister of Israel has dismantled some of the settlements, 
has talked about having peace with the Palestinians. And what was the 
response on the Palestinian side? The three terrorist organizations, 
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is part of Arafat's Fattah 
network, and Hezbollah, all got together and took credit for the 
assassination of five Israeli soldiers. That was the Palestinian 
terrorists' answer to peace. The Palestinian prime minister, Machmoud 
Abbas, who said he would try to persuade the terrorists to have a 
cease-fire was not able to persuade them at all. In fact, they rejected 
his calls for a cease-fire. Machmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime 
minister, then said he would not use force to try to get the terrorists 
to stop, he would only try to persuade them.
  I would say if Mr. Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, is not 
going to attempt to use force to stop terrorists from committing 
terrorist acts, then Israel has the right to take matters into her own 
hands and to use force to stop terrorists from committing these heinous 
acts. After all, since Mr. Rantisi is one of the leaders of Hamas which 
kills innocent men, women, and children civilians, why should Mr. 
Rantisi think he is somehow immune to some kind of attacks on his life?
  It is very important that Israel, the United States, and all peace-
loving countries in the world go after terrorism. And when nations go 
after terrorism, other nations should help them, not say that it is 
unhelpful for peace. Let us talk about the road map which everyone 
seems to be so ecstatic about. The road map will only work if and when 
the Palestinians decide if and when they are going to put an end to 
terror and not use terror as a negotiating tool, and the road map 
should be performance-based, not time-based. In other words, the 
Palestinians have to perform. They have to stop terrorism before they 
get their state. If they do not stop terrorism, they do not get their 
state. They should not merrily march along to statehood in 2004 and 
2005 unless they end terrorism.
  Mr. Speaker, I think Israel should be commended for going after 
terrorists. I think all nations should do the same.




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