[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 7 (Thursday, January 21, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H307-H308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, since the rebirth of the nation of 
Israel over 60 years ago, radical jihadists have relentlessly tried to 
destroy this nation.
  Funded by Iran, Hezbollah attacks from the north and thousands of 
unguided rockets have rained down on Israeli villages. That is right: 
unguided missiles. That means they deliberately go anywhere and hit 
anybody where the missile is fired. That includes men, women, children. 
It doesn't matter to Hezbollah. They want to kill in the name of 
terror.
  Hamas does the same thing in the south. Over 12,000 missiles have 
been launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip alone. I have been to 
Israel, and it is a small country. It is the size or smaller than the 
size of New Jersey. But yet from the north they get missiles, from the 
south they get missiles. But they still exist, and they have the right 
to exist. Israeli citizens fight these radicals rather than give up and 
surrender. After all, victory never comes by taking the path of least 
resistance.
  These are unprovoked attacks into this nation. Israel is assured by 
us, the United States, that she has the right to defend herself, but 
sometimes we try to interfere with her own national defense. Israel is 
our strongest ally in the Middle East, and we need to treat her as 
such.
  The whole situation is made even more complicated by Iran's pursuit 
of nuclear weapons. The Tiny Tyrant in the Desert, Ahmadinejad, has the 
means to hit Israel with missiles. And not only Israel, but our troops 
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and to 
allow Ahmadinejad to have nuclear weapons is not a nuclear option. The 
Tiny Tyrant Ahmadinejad uses murder and brutality to try to silence 
protests in his own country of Iran. Imagine what he will do to the 
world if he has nuclear weapons.

[[Page H308]]

  The best great hope for the world is that the people of Iran change 
their regime, and we should encourage and support the students, the 
academics, and others not to give in to their oppressive dictator.
  Israel has been fighting radical jihadists for decades, and they have 
been on the front lines. Terrorist attack after terrorist attack, they 
have endured. We all remember the massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes 
in Munich in 1972. And then there was the slaughter of Israeli 
teenagers in a pizza parlor in Jerusalem in 2002.
  Radical Islam kills people they hate. They kill them in the name of 
religion, people of different religions, like Jews, Christians, and 
even moderate Muslims.
  The modern State of Israel was founded in the wake of the Holocaust, 
after 6 million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis. The 
reestablishment of Israel reflects the best conscience of a civilized 
world. And Israel has the absolute right to exist, just as other 
nations do; and it has the absolute moral right to defend itself 
against those who want to eliminate her.
  Israel is our partner and ally in this fight against terrorists, 
terrorists who deliberately target civilians. Innocent women and 
children are considered military combatants to terrorists. Jihadists 
use women as hostages and hide behind their skirts for their cowardly 
cover.
  Some history is in store here, Mr. Speaker. Back in 1967, Israel was 
forced into a war by Arab nations. President Nasser of Egypt threatened 
to ``drive Israel into the sea,'' and the conflict is now called the 
Six Day War. The armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon amassed on 
the Israeli borders, and President Nasser of Egypt ordered the United 
Nations emergency troops to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula. So the 
whole world watched and waited for the destruction of Israel. The 
United Nations stood by and did nothing.
  But to the shock of the world, Israel turned back all of the 
aggressors in just 6 days and headed to the enemy capitals.
  Israel won a defensive war on the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai 
Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. A cease-fire was then negotiated.
  International law says that countries must return land gained from a 
defensive war only under a negotiated peace. So Israel and Egypt have 
since signed a peace treaty. Israel gave back the Sinai. Time and again 
Israel has traded land for peace, but it still has no peace.
  All of the nations of the Middle East must condemn terror as a policy 
for change. The Palestinians and Israelis must settle their disputes 
now, some 60 years later, through mutual respect, cooperation, honesty, 
and understanding. But intimidation, terror, murder is not an 
acceptable foreign or domestic policy and should be publicly and 
jointly rejected by all sides.
  Make no mistake about it, Israel will not surrender or retreat in the 
wake of this violence. Israel shall never give in and never give up the 
right to exist, whether jihadists like it or not. And the United States 
should make it clear to terrorists that we will stand shoulder to 
shoulder with our friends and allies.
  And that's just the way it is.

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