[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 96 (Thursday, July 20, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1467-E1468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONDEMNING THE RECENT ATTACKS AGAINST THE STATE OF ISRAEL

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 19, 2006

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, as a Jew, as someone who loves Israel, 
and as a member of Congress, I stand in solidarity with the people of 
Israel.
  I remain committed to a peace process for Israel's security and for 
the future of the Middle East. Unfortunately, that peace process and 
the relative calm that has been the reality in the region in recent 
months were violently attacked at dawn on June 25th when a Hamas terror 
cell infiltrated Israel through a tunnel, murdered two Israeli 
soldiers, and kidnapped 19 year old Corporal Gilad Shalit. The 
operation was praised by the Hamas government. This came after Israel 
had fully withdrawn from Gaza in September 2005, a move that offered 
the Palestinian people the opportunity to begin the development of 
their future independent state.
  Then on July 12th, the Iran and Syria-supported Hezbollah terrorist 
organization crossed the internationally recognized border between 
Lebanon and Israel under a barrage of rocket and missile salvos, 
initially killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two more. From 
positions in Lebanon, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets laden with 
ball bearings indiscriminately at civilian communities in Israel. 
Israel fully withdrew from Lebanon in May of the year 2000. Last week's 
attack was so egregious that it prompted the leaders of Arab states, 
such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan to condemn Hezbollah's act of 
vicious terrorism.
  The premeditated, coordinated, and unprovoked terrorist attacks on 
Israel, from territory that Israel voluntarily conceded in an effort to 
promote peace and regional security, are absolutely indefensible. Hamas 
and Hezbollah bear direct responsibility for this current conflict.
  Hezbollah receives military, financial and political support from 
Iran and Syria, with Tehran providing the terrorist group with an 
estimated $100 million annually. Regular weapons shipments including 
Katyusha rockets, new long-range ballistic missiles, Chinese-made anti-
ship missiles, mortars, anti-tank missiles, mines, explosives and small 
arms are sent to Hezbollah from Tehran through Damascus.
  Iran and Syria have provided Hezbollah with more than 10,000 rockets, 
including shorter-range Katyushas and more sophisticated longer-range 
weapons, which the terrorist group is now firing at major Israeli 
population centers across northern Israel and beyond. In fact, on July 
14th, Hezbollah used a Silkworm cruise missile to attack an Israeli 
ship, killing four sailors and yesterday, rockets slammed into a 
Christian-Arab neighborhood of Nazareth, a city respected by people of 
all faiths around the world.

  Both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad have met with Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah 
in the past year to reaffirm their ties to the terrorist group. 
Ahmadinejad promised to continue to support Hezbollah's struggle 
against the ``enemies of Islam.''
  Israeli and American officials believe Hezbollah would not have 
attacked Israel without a green light from its patrons in Damascus and 
Tehran, and the leaders of both countries

[[Page E1468]]

have subsequently expressed strong support for the attacks on Israel.
  The United States Congress has already enacted several laws, 
including the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration 
Act, and the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, all of which call for the 
imposition of sanctions on Syria and Iran for, among other things, 
their support for terrorism and terrorist organizations. We must insist 
that President Bush bring the full force of political, diplomatic, and 
economic sanctions available to the Government of the United States 
against the Governments of Syria and Iran.
  Sadly and frighteningly, Hezbollah remains off the European Union's 
(EU) terrorist list. This means that European nationals continue to 
provide Hezbollah with material support to this day. President Bush and 
Secretary of State Rice must make an immediate push with our European 
allies to have Hezbollah added to the EU terrorist list.
  Israel has the responsibility to defend its citizens and cannot be 
expected to tolerate the violent provocations Hamas and Hezbollah 
committed this month. And while I am convinced that Israel is using 
every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties, it has become clear 
that the terrorists in Hamas and Hezbollah stage their actions from 
within civilian communities, thereby intentionally putting civilians at 
risk. Israel must do what is necessary to defend itself while 
continuing to make every effort to avoid civilian casualties.
  As the New York Times stated: ``Kidnapping Israeli soldiers to use as 
bargaining chips for the release of Arab prisoners is horrible behavior 
for groups that claim international recognition and political 
legitimacy, as Hamas and Hezbollah do. The same applies to lobbing 
rockets over Israel's borders in the hope that they might kill 
unsuspecting civilians.''
  It is long past due for the international community to implement 
fully UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in September 2004, 
which calls for the Lebanese army to secure southern Lebanon's border 
and for Hezbollah to be disarmed and disbanded. Lebanon cannot be free 
and democratic so long as Hezbollah continues to operate as a state 
within a state, complete with its own army.
  Regarding the Palestinians, the peace process will continue to be 
under attack until Hamas denounces its violent charter, rejects 
terrorism, and recognizes Israel's right to exist and decides it is 
more important to build a Palestinian state than destroy the Jewish 
State. I encourage Israeli leaders to maintain a dialogue with 
moderates within the Palestinian Authority in order to keep hope of a 
two-state solution in the near future alive.
  But in the meantime, the United States must stand by its friend and 
ally, Israel, and the Bush Administration must actively engage itself 
in seeking a resolution to this situation. As a first step to restoring 
calm, the kidnapped Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon must be 
returned unconditionally and unharmed, and the indiscriminate rocket 
attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas and Hezbollah must end 
immediately.
  I strongly encourage all of my colleagues to support H. Res. 921.

                          ____________________