[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H7870-H7874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CONDEMNING MIDEAST TV PROGRAMMING THAT INCITES VIOLENCE

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1069) condemning the use of 
television programming by Hamas to indoctrinate hatred, violence, and 
anti-Semitism toward Israel in young Palestinian children, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1069

       Whereas freedom of the press and freedom of expression are 
     the foundations of free and prosperous societies worldwide 
     and are among America's most cherished values;
       Whereas with freedom of the press and freedom of expression 
     comes the responsibility to refrain from incitement to 
     violence and to repudiate purveyors of such incitement;
       Whereas for years, media outlets in the Middle East have 
     repeatedly published or broadcasted incitement to violence 
     against the United States and its citizens;
       Whereas Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by 
     both the United States and the European Union;
       Whereas Hamas owns and operates al-Aqsa TV;
       Whereas Hamas uses al-Aqsa TV to promote the organization's 
     extremist and violent ideas by, inter alia, airing children's 
     shows such as ``Tomorrow's Pioneers'' and ``Those who 
     Excel'', the primary goal of which is to breed new anti-
     Israeli and anti-Western terrorists;
       Whereas in April 2008 Hamas gruesomely depicted the murder 
     of the President of the United States through the use of 
     puppets on a children's show;
       Whereas al-Aqsa TV has used popular cartoon figures to 
     indoctrinate children and incite them toward hatred and 
     violence, in one instance depicting a Bugs Bunny-like 
     character declaring that he ``will finish off the Jews and 
     eat them'';
       Whereas al-Aqsa TV is currently being transmitted by 
     satellites owned by the France-based, privately owned 
     Eutelsat and by the Saudi Arabia-based, Arab League-owned 
     Arabsat;
       Whereas Hamas' al-Aqsa TV follows the model of Lebanese 
     Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, which also promotes terrorism and 
     incitement to violence against the United States and its 
     citizens and is widely telecast throughout the Arab world via 
     Arabsat and the Egypt-based, state-owned Nilesat;
       Whereas Hezbollah launched the television station al-Manar 
     in 1991 and has since funded and operated it as a ``station 
     of resistance'', intending to use it as a weapon to further 
     its goals of promoting violence against the United States and 
     Israel;
       Whereas in 2000, al-Manar launched a satellite television 
     channel that now has an estimated daily viewership of 
     10,000,000 people worldwide;
       Whereas al-Manar regularly broadcasts video clips that 
     glorify insurgent attacks against American and Coalition 
     forces in Iraq;
       Whereas the United States designated al-Manar TV a 
     Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity in 2006;
       Whereas Press TV, Iran's English-language satellite 
     television network, is transmitted via the satellite 
     providers ArabSat, NileSat, AsiaSat, HotBird, HispaSat, 
     IntelSat, and Galaxy, and is viewable in North America, South 
     America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa;
       Whereas al-Alam TV, Iran's Arabic-language satellite 
     television network, is transmitted via the satellite 
     providers ArabSat, NileSat, AsiaSat, HotBird, TelStar, and 
     Galaxy, and is viewable in North America, the Middle East, 
     Europe, Asia, and Africa;
       Whereas many Iranian state-controlled television channels 
     have broadcast incitement to violence against United States 
     citizens, including coverage of rallies and speeches at which 
     Iranian leaders, clerics, children, and mass audiences have 
     declared ``Death to America!'';
       Whereas on March 6, 2008, al-Alam broadcasted a warning 
     from an Iraqi insurgent that if the USS Cole was not 
     withdrawn from off the coast of Lebanon, his group would be 
     ``targeting all the United States interests, especially the 
     warships [docked] in Umm Qasr beaches in southern Iraq'';
       Whereas al-Zawra is presently a nonoperational Iraqi 
     satellite television channel that broadcasted during 2006 and 
     2007;
       Whereas the Government of Iraq banned al-Zawra in November 
     of 2006 for inciting ``violence and murder'';
       Whereas multiple reports indicate that after being banned 
     in Iraq, al-Zawra broadcast via a satellite uplink based in 
     Syria until transmissions apparently ceased in July 2007;
       Whereas al-Zawra broadcasted videos of violent attacks 
     against American forces in Iraq depicting the destruction of 
     humvees and armored vehicles, recruitment videos for

[[Page H7871]]

     the Abu Bakr al-Sadiq al-Salafi Battalion of al-Qaeda in 
     Iraq, and videos that feature prominently ``Juba'', a sniper 
     that allegedly targeted Coalition forces and called for 
     viewers to engage in violence against Coalition forces in 
     Iraq;
       Whereas in 2007, al-Zawra aired a program widely known as 
     ``Hidden Camera Jihad'', a compilation of attacks filmed and 
     executed by insurgents against Coalition forces in Iraq and 
     accompanied by sound effects, scornful English language 
     captions, and a ``laugh track'';
       Whereas al-Rafidayn, an Arabic-language satellite 
     television channel based in Egypt with a focus on Iraq, is 
     broadcast via NileSat to the Middle East and North Africa, 
     and is affiliated with the Association of Muslim Scholars, an 
     anti-American Islamist group based in Iraq;
       Whereas al-Rafidayn has repeatedly broadcast video clips 
     produced by Sunni insurgent and terrorist groups in Iraq, and 
     the channel's news broadcasts have frequently broadcasted 
     videos, poems, and songs that praise those groups and their 
     attacks on American forces in Iraq;
       Whereas television channels that broadcast incitement to 
     violence against United States citizens and others have 
     demonstrated the ability to shift their operations to 
     different countries and their transmissions to different 
     satellite providers in order to continue broadcasting and to 
     evade accountability;
       Whereas television channels such as al-Aqsa, al-Manar, and 
     al-Zawra broadcast incitement to violence against Americans 
     and Israelis, purvey hatred against the West, and aid Foreign 
     Terrorist Organizations in recruitment, fundraising, and 
     propaganda;
       Whereas the use of media outlets by advocates of violence 
     against Americans poses a clear and present danger to the 
     security of United States service members and American 
     civilians serving throughout the Middle East; and
       Whereas it is imperative for the United States to use all 
     possible legal and diplomatic tools to counter the threats to 
     American service and civilian personnel that result from the 
     control or use of media outlets by SDGTs and other entities 
     that intend to inflict violence on Americans: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) condemns the broadcast of incitement to violence and 
     hatred against Americans, Israelis, and the West by media 
     based in the Middle East;
       (2) urges governments throughout the Middle East, American 
     allies, and other responsible Nations to officially and 
     publicly repudiate purveyors of hatred and incitement to 
     violence against Americans, Israelis, and others;
       (3) calls on the President to designate al-Aqsa TV a 
     Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity;
       (4) condemns Hamas for using children's television 
     programming to incite hatred, violence, and anti-Semitism;
       (5) demands Hamas recognize the State of Israel's right to 
     exist, renounce the use of violence and terrorism as 
     political goals, and accept all past peace agreements with 
     the State of Israel;
       (6) calls on Saudi Arabia, the primary shareholder in 
     Arabsat, and on all other Arab States that own shares in 
     Arabsat, to cease immediately the transmission of telecasts 
     by al-Aqsa TV and al-Manar TV;
       (7) calls on Egypt, which owns Nilesat, to cease 
     immediately the transmission of telecasts by al-Rafidayn TV 
     and al-Manar TV;
       (8) calls on the owners of Eutelsat and the Government of 
     France, which legislates what may be broadcast on satellites 
     based in France, to cease immediately the transmission of 
     telecasts by al-Aqsa TV;
       (9) urges the President to consider designating as SDGTs 
     satellite providers that knowingly and willingly contract 
     with entities designated as SDGTs to broadcast their 
     channels, or to consider implementing other punitive measures 
     against satellite providers that transmit al-Aqsa TV, al-
     Manar TV, al-Rafidayn TV, or any other terrorist-owned and 
     operated station;
       (10) calls on the President to take into consideration 
     state sponsorship of anti-American incitement to violence 
     when determining the level of assistance to, and frequency 
     and nature of relations with, regional States; and
       (11) urges all governments and private investors who own 
     shares in satellite companies or otherwise influence 
     decisions about satellite transmissions to oppose 
     transmissions of telecasts by al-Aqsa TV, al-Manar TV, al-
     Rafidayn TV, or any other terrorist-owned and -operated 
     stations that similarly purvey insidiously anti-American, 
     anti-Western, anti-Israeli, and anti-Semitic messages and 
     openly incite their audiences to commit acts of terrorism.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of 
this resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my friend from New York, Joe Crowley, 
for introducing this timely and important resolution. Despite the shaky 
cease-fire reached between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hamas 
has neither changed its explicitly stated aim to destroy the State of 
Israel nor given up the use of terrorism and violence as a means to 
achieve that end.
  But while Hamas' use of terrorism to undermine peace and destroy 
Israel is well understood in the West, few are aware of its 
sophisticated use of broadcast media to spread hatred of the United 
States, Israel and Jews, and to incite Palestinian youth to violence.
  Hamas has had its own television station, known as al-Aqsa TV, which 
is telecast throughout the Arab world. Among its many crude and 
contemptible practices, al-Aqsa TV utilizes cartoon characters and 
puppets, one resembling Disney's universally recognized Mickey Mouse, 
in programming that advocates terrorism, anti-Americanism and anti-
Semitism.
  On March 30, 2008, this TV station broadcast a puppet show depicting 
the stabbing and murder of the President of the United States. This 
morally twisted type of children's programming violates all civilized 
norms, cynically undermines prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace, 
and flagrantly violates phase I of the U.S.-backed roadmap for peace, 
calling for an end to incitement in Palestinian society. It even 
stigmatizes the Palestinian people who want peace, many of them 
fighting every day to ensure that there is an opportunity for 
collaboration and dialogue and peaceful discussion with Israel. In 
fact, I would imagine that children who are watching are certainly not 
children who are intending to grow up to be terrorists.
  The resolution puts this body on record supporting the overdue 
designation of al-Aqsa television as a specially designated global 
terrorist entity. Such a designation would follow logically from the 
administration's designation of Hezbollah's al-Manar TV as a specially 
designated global terrorist entity 3 years ago. This designation proved 
useful in persuading a number of satellite companies around the world 
not to transmit al-Manar's hate-filled broadcasts. Designating Hamas' 
al-Aqsa TV would similarly send a strong message to satellite companies 
transmitting its vile programming, including one of Europe's largest 
satellite companies, the privately-owned, French-based Eutelsat.
  In addition, this resolution calls on Saudi Arabia, the primary 
shareholder in the Arab League-owned satellite Arabsat, to take the 
lead in ending Arabsat's transmission of al-Aqsa TV, as well as 
Hezbollah's al-Manar TV. Thanks to Arabsat, both al-Aqsa TV and al-
Manar TV are seen throughout the Middle East and beyond.
  Unfortunately, our friend and ally Egypt is also involved in 
transmissions of hate media. Egypt's state-owned satellite, NileSat, 
broadcasts at least two terrorist mouthpieces, the Hezbollah station 
and the Iraq focused station and an Arabic language network affiliated 
with anti-American insurgent activity. This latter network consistently 
telecasts material glorifying insurgents and their attacks on American 
forces.
  It would be especially important if our allies and friends would 
recognize that it is our intent to collaborate and work toward 
uplifting forthright, educational, politically sound conversation and 
dialogue. It is not our intent, of course, to control their own 
sovereignty, but it is important when that gets out into the world 
marketplace that it is civil, that it is strong, that it is democratic, 
that it is fair, and that it is reflective of the human dignity of all 
people.
  It is deeply dismaying that one of our strongest allies in the region 
and one of the largest recipients of U.S. Foreign assistance tolerates 
the advocacy of attacks on Americans in Iraq on its state-controlled 
satellite provider.
  I know that the terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah will not soon

[[Page H7872]]

abandon their mass-media means of hatred and violence, but it is long 
past the time for all state-owned and privately-owned satellite 
companies around the world to cease transmitting these destructive 
messages that encourage the murder of Americans and Israelis.
  That is why I strongly support this resolution, and I urge all my 
colleagues to join me in that support.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I strongly support House Resolution 1069, which addresses and 
condemns the spread of encouragement to violence against America and 
Americans by Middle East-based media outlets. This is not a problem in 
theory, Mr. Speaker. When TV channels broadcast attacks by insurgents 
on U.S. soldiers in Iraq or newspapers publish repeated calls for the 
destruction of the United States, they further endanger the security of 
American civilians and military personnel in the Middle East. These 
channels are then broadcast on satellite providers that transmit not 
only to the region, but as far away as Europe, Asia, Africa and even 
North America.

                              {time}  1300

  We must do everything we can to prevent our enemies from recruiting 
potential insurgents and homicidal bombers. They must be prevented, 
from Beirut to London to New York, who seek to shed American blood 
wherever and whenever they wish.
  Media outlets that provide financial, material, or technological 
support to violent Islamic groups should be held accountable for their 
hate speech that incites murder of American civilians and military. 
Given that recipients of U.S. aid, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, 
control many of the satellite providers that transmit such incitement, 
we should use our leverage to urge these nations to act responsibly and 
stop putting these calls for murder on the air of their television 
stations.
  I again rise in very strong support of H. Res. 1069, and I urge my 
fellow members to do as well.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. It is my pleasure, Mr. Speaker, to yield 5 
minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York, the author of the 
legislation, Mr. Crowley.
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I am sure I will not use all that time, and 
I thank the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson-Lee, for giving 
me this time on the floor. I want to thank my friend and colleague from 
Florida, Congressman Bilirakis, for his working with me to further 
expand the resolution that we have on the floor today to include all 
media outlets that promote hate and intolerance in the Middle East. 
This is a bipartisan resolution, and I greatly appreciate his input and 
his support on this legislation today.
  I initially introduced this legislation in response to reports that 
Hamas was using and is using their television network, al-Aqsa TV, to 
depict violence and acts of hatred on a show called ``Tomorrow's 
Pioneers.'' The show has Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny look-alikes 
telling their children viewers that they will ``finish off the Jews and 
eat them.'' Another puppet show also on the network, as was mentioned 
earlier, acted out the murder of President Bush on that network.
  The use of children's programming to send these kinds of messages is 
despicable and deplorable, and we cannot stand by and let this blatant 
propaganda continue because, at best, it perpetuates misinformation 
and, at its worst, it will serve to indoctrinate children, incite them 
towards hatred and violence against our ally Israel and possibly 
others, including the United States, and undermine efforts to firmly 
establish peace in the Middle East for generations to come.
  Instead of promoting violence, our children should be taught to 
respect and accept all people, no matter their faith or their 
nationality.
  If we are going to establish lasting peace in the Middle East, and it 
is all of our fervent hope that we do that, it will require far more 
than an end to military hostilities between warring factions. It will 
require the creation of an environment where people can live side by 
side in peace.
  Today, we send a clear message to our friends and foes alike in the 
Middle East that we do not tolerate the indoctrination of hate in 
children. The next leaders of our world should not be brainwashed into 
hating the West and Israel.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Bilirakis), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for the time.
  I rise in support of House Resolution 1069, and I urge swift passage.
  Along with Mr. Crowley's original resolution, I introduced House 
Resolution 1308, condemning the broadcasting of incitement of violence 
against Americans and the United States in Middle Eastern-based media.
  I am pleased to have worked with Mr. Crowley in combining our two 
resolutions to come up with the product we have today. I am grateful 
that my colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by 
Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, in a display of 
bipartisanship, unanimously voted for my amendment in the nature of a 
substitute to House Resolution 1069.
  Anti-American incitement of violence is escalating in quality and 
quantity, fueled by the rapid growth of satellite television throughout 
the Arab world. In 2008, al-Manar TV broadcast over two dozen video 
clips of insurgent bombings against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, 
while one of its correspondents implicitly threatened the USS Cole with 
attack. Further, Iranian state-controlled TV channels repeatedly 
broadcast calls for ``Death to America,'' and, we have already heard 
al-Aqsa TV broadcast a puppet show depicting an Arab child stabbing the 
President of the United States.
  Instead of denouncing and addressing such incitement, many countries 
in the region effectively provide financial, material, or technological 
support to purveyors of incitement. Al-Manar and al-Aqsa, among others, 
are transmitting on the satellite providers Nile-Sat, controlled by the 
Egyptian government, and Arabsat, controlled by the Arab League. Given 
the dangers such incitement poses to American service and civilian 
personnel in the region, it is long past time for the U.S. and other 
responsible nations to stop this growing threat. Support of House 
Resolution 1069 is, therefore, critical.
  Among other things, this resolution condemns the broadcast of anti-
American incitement to violence and hatred against the Americans, 
Israelis, and the West by Middle East-based media. It urges Middle 
Eastern governments, U.S. allies, and other responsible nations to 
officially and publicly repudiate purveyors of such incitement to 
violence against Americans and Israelis. It calls on the President to 
designate al-Aqsa as a specially designated global terrorist entity, 
and to designate those satellite providers that contract with purveyors 
of incitement to violence as such. It demands that Hamas recognize 
Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and terrorism, and accept 
all past peace agreements with Israel. Most importantly, it takes into 
consideration state sponsorship of anti-American incitement to violence 
when determining our aid to and relations with regional governments.
  We must stop Middle East-based media from inciting violence against 
us.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank Mr. Crowley. I thank you for the 
time. This is an important resolution that will enhance our security 
and protect our soldiers and citizens overseas. I urge its passage.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to add for the Record 
that the author of the legislation, Congressman Crowley, is a member of 
the Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of the Ways and Means 
Committee.
  It now gives me great pleasure to yield 2 minutes to Congresswoman 
Shelley Berkley, who is a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, 
the Ways and Means Committee, but a former member of the Foreign 
Affairs Committee.
  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentlelady for 
yielding to me and for her leadership. And I thank my colleague from 
New York (Mr. Crowley) for his leadership on this and so many other 
issues, and my dear friend, Mr. Bilirakis, who has done such a 
remarkable job in the time that he has been in Congress.

[[Page H7873]]

  I rise today as a proud cosponsor of this resolution, but I am deeply 
troubled that it even needs to exist.
  It is often said that a society can be judged by the values that they 
teach their children. Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to say that there is no 
more fitting commentary on Hamas and its principles than the shocking 
hate-filled television programming they broadcast to indoctrinate their 
children. For those who still believe, contrary to everything else, 
that Hamas is merely a political organization or a social organization, 
they should look no further than their television sets to see a Mickey 
Mouse look-alike teaching children how to wear explosive belts, or Bugs 
Bunny teaching children to kill and even eat Jews. This is absolutely 
outrageous uncivilized behavior. And far from laying the groundwork for 
peace, Hamas is sowing the seeds of yet another generation of 
terrorists who value martyrdom and death above all else. Instead of 
protecting their children, they are putting them in harm's way.
  Indeed, just this weekend during a cease-fire with Israel, Arab media 
reported that Hamas is continuing to conduct military exercises in 
residential areas. It is just further troubling evidence that they are 
all too eager to put their children in the line of fire. Instead of 
teaching their children mathematics and geography or really enjoying a 
Mickey Mouse and a Bugs Bunny character, they teach their children how 
to fire missiles and maximize casualties, and using cartoon figures to 
do it.
  I submit to you today that true peace will only come to the Middle 
East when terrorist organizations like Hamas stop indoctrinating their 
children with hate, stop treating their children as cannon fodder, and 
start building a positive, stable future for their children.
  I urge support for this resolution.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Shays).
  Mr. SHAYS. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1069, a resolution 
condemning Hamas for using a children's television program to incite 
hatred, violence, and anti-Semitism towards Israel and its citizens.
  This hateful propaganda targeted at children by Hamas, an 
internationally recognized terrorist organization, cannot be tolerated 
and must be stopped.
  Further, unless Hamas recognizes the State of Israel's right to 
exist, ceases incitement of hatred, and permanently disarms and 
dismantles its terrorist infrastructure, the United States will not 
work with it, nor can we expect Israel to.
  Israel is our best ally, and our relationship is all the more 
important as our nations share a common interest in defeating the 
threat posed by radical Islamist terrorists, whether it is Hamas or 
Hezbollah.
  Israel has stood bravely in the face of threats by Hamas and 
Hezbollah, and has the right and obligation to defend its citizens and 
its nation. Israel has the right to exist free from terror, and we will 
help defend this right.
  The actions of Hamas and Hezbollah, or any other Islamist terrorist 
organization, to incite hatred and violence in the young will doom any 
real chance of peace, and it will doom citizens in the future to a 
continued life in hell. We have to recognize that if there is going to 
be peace in the Middle East, it is going to emanate from the young.
  We allowed my daughter, Jeramy Alice, to watch TV only on a Saturday 
morning. When she watched cartoons, she was absolutely fixated on them. 
It is stunning to see the impact television has on the young. And to 
think that young children would be seeing cartoon figures that would 
teach anger, hate and anti-Semitism is astonishing.
  It strikes me as strange that eventually Hamas and Hezbollah and the 
people that have supported it don't get it. If they want a better life, 
if they want a better future, if they love and care for their children, 
they will do everything to fill their children with images of love and 
peace, not hatred and anger.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Does the gentleman from Texas have any 
further speakers?
  Mr. POE. We have no other speakers. I support the adoption of this 
immediately, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I thank the gentleman. And let me, in 
supporting this legislation, indicate that there are friends that we 
have mentioned. And we hope that our allies such as Egypt will work 
with us to address what has been noted as particularly heinous comments 
and use of the airwaves.
  Respecting our own viewpoints of protecting the first amendment, we 
do believe in that. But we also know that even though our law is not 
international law, that crying fire in a crowded theater certainly is 
not acceptable.
  Teaching children to murder heads of states is not acceptable. Let us 
try to work and collaborate and point out these ills so that we can 
promote peace and democracy around the world. I ask my colleagues to 
support this legislation.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, H. Res. 1069 condemns the use of 
television programming by Hamas to incite hatred in Palestinian youth 
and encourage violence. Violence and hatred will not bring a just and 
lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. I do not condone the 
use of television programming to promote such acts; rather I strongly 
object to it. Similarly, I condemn an ongoing policy that seeks to 
punish a civilian population in an effort to undermine its political 
leadership.
  Hamas is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United 
States because they engage in violence that undermines the Arab-Israeli 
peace process. Hamas is a sanctioned terrorist entity by the U.S. and 
the international community. As such, our condemnation of all egregious 
and objectionable activities by Hamas is clear. Condemnation of their 
television programming does not make this more clear nor does it bring 
us closer to a viable peace.
  U.S. foreign policy must promote viable solutions to the violence and 
hatred. It is obvious that the promotion of peaceful solutions begins 
with ensuring the security and basic human rights of all people. The 
ongoing atrocities caused by the suffering of 1.5 million people in 
Gaza who are subject to escalating poverty, inadequate health care and 
insufficient access to clean water is a clear violation of security and 
human rights.
  The blockade of Gaza has resulted in a near total collapse of the 
private sector, causing an almost 80 percent unemployment rate. More 
than 80 percent of all Gazans now rely on emergency food aid provided 
by the United Nations as their primary food source. The lack of basic 
goods has severely deteriorated Gaza's health, economy, and social 
fabric.
  Imposition of the blockade in response to Hamas's attacks has 
amounted to collective punishment. While the current crisis may be 
exacerbated, instigated, even perpetuated by Hamas, the responsibility 
for ending the humanitarian crisis does not rest solely with Hamas.
  Israel has a legal duty to provide Gazans with food, clean water, 
electricity, and medical care. The United States enjoys a close 
relationship with Israel. They are one of our strongest allies. I urge 
this body to exert our diplomatic influence with Israel to end the 
humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ensure the health, safety, and security 
for Palestinians and Israelis. This new condition would obviate the 
perceived need for condemnation.
  Mr. MAHONEY. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my good friend and 
colleague, Representative Crowley, in supporting H. Res. 1069.
  I have seen the workings of Hamas first-hand on a trip to Israel. 
Their rockets and attacks kill innocent Israelis. And now, by using of 
Al-Aqsa TV programming to promote hate and violence among Palestinian 
children, they are poisoning another generation.
  There is no place for cartoon characters telling children they ``will 
finish off the Jews and eat them'' or depictions of President Bush 
being murdered. Children should be taught to respect and accept all 
people, no matter their faith.
  This blatant propaganda aims to indoctrinate children, incite hatred 
and violence towards Israel, and undermine efforts to establish peace 
in the Middle East.
  At a time when the United States is working to bring peace to the 
region, it is incomprehensible and counterproductive to be filling 
Palestinian children with more hatred and fear.
  If lasting peace is to be achieved, this type of anti-Semitic and 
anti-American propaganda must be stopped.
  Today, we are sending a clear message to Hamas that this type of 
behavior must come to an end. I thank my colleagues for their support.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms.

[[Page H7874]]

Jackson-Lee of Texas) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution, H. Res. 1069, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________