[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 74 (Monday, May 6, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2625-S2626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, over the weekend we were given yet 
another tragic reminder of the daily

[[Page S2626]]

threats that face our friends and allies in Israel.
  While American families enjoyed a spring weekend, those who make 
their home in the border regions of the Jewish State were subjected to 
a barrage of hundreds of rockets and other projectiles launched from 
within Gaza.
  The attacks were carried out by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic 
Jihad. They targeted civilian populations. They killed a worker at a 
cement factory, a truckdriver in a border village, a man in the yard of 
his own home, and a rabbi as he left his car to run for cover.
  They caused countless Israeli citizens to scurry to bunkers for 
safety, unsure whether rockets would rain upon their farms, apartment 
buildings, schools, or hospitals. These attacks, we should remember, 
are targeted at Israel's innocent civilians. They are intended to kill, 
to maim, and to terrorize.
  In the face of such brazen acts of terror, it is of course Israel's 
right to take swift and decisive action to defend its people. Frankly, 
it is an existential necessity.
  And it is the responsibility of every peaceful nation to condemn the 
terrorist organizations behind them and to continue to expose those 
governments and private entities that provide illicit support for their 
actions. Foremost among them is Iran, which has become a critical 
lifeline for the terrorist activities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic 
Jihad.
  I know my colleagues will join me in expressing sympathy for the 
families of the victims and for the communities left to rebuild the 
wreckage of these latest attacks. Furthermore, I hope this weekend's 
attacks could at least spur some action here in Congress, where Senate-
passed legislation to renew and strengthen our partnership with Israel 
is still sitting over in the House, where it has not been permitted a 
vote. That thoroughly bipartisan legislation contains several 
provisions to strengthen our security ties to Israel and also to combat 
the scourge of anti-Semitism.
  Behind these attacks lurks the same hatred that motivated the 
violence at Chabad of Poway last month and the Tree of Life synagogue 
last year--the same ugly bigotry that takes refuge within the BDS 
movement while masquerading as a legitimate political stance. It is the 
same tide of discrimination that an overwhelming majority of European 
Jews report is on the rise in their own communities, even as the 
Holocaust remains a vivid living memory. This disturbing trend has 
already taken its toll on communities of faith and on peaceful Jews in 
Israel and around the world, but when America does any less than our 
level best to confront it, we further undermine the cause of our 
friends and allies in this free Jewish State.
  I hope this terrible violence can again spur my colleagues in the 
House to act on the bipartisan legislation that has been languishing 
over there for weeks. It was the first item we took up this year.
  Clearly, the need to reaffirm our commitment to the safety, security, 
and sovereignty of Israel is just as important as it ever was.