[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 82 (Wednesday, May 12, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H2264-H2268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 OUR FRIENDS IN ISRAEL ARE UNDER ATTACK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Mast) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. MAST. I am joined by my colleague here, Mr. Roy. There will be 
some colloquy going between us as we each feel the need to discuss what 
is going on in Israel right now, the response by the world, the 
response by the United States of America.
  Mr. Roy, I don't know if you have any opening comments that you would 
like to begin with, but we can certainly start with that.
  Mr. ROY. I would just say how much I appreciate the gentleman, I 
appreciate his service, I appreciate his understanding about how 
important Israel is to us as an ally and how important it is for our 
country to stand united right now as we watch our friends under attack. 
I look forward to engaging with him.
  Mr. MAST. Let's start with what my friend just said, our friends 
under attack. That first word, ``under attack'' is the most important 
part to realize here. I want to quote one of our other colleagues in a 
statement, Ms. Omar, in one of her statements about these very events. 
She said, ``Israel airstrikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of 
terrorism. Palestinians deserve protection. Unlike Israel, missile 
defense programs such as Iron Dome don't exist to protect Palestinian 
civilians. It is unconscionable to not condemn these attacks.''
  That is absolutely right. Palestinians don't receive support like 
Iron Dome. That would be akin to giving al-Qaida or ISIS or the Taliban 
U.S. bomb technicians and military personnel to help them out. That 
would be the apples-to-apples comparison of giving the attackers, 
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic jihad, others, that would be the equivalent 
of giving them those kind of assets.
  Hamas purposefully makes their civilians the shields to their 
offensive points. That is not hyperbole. Think about that, what they do 
to their population. I don't want to just speak about this in 
platitudes.
  If the gentleman has anything to add, by all means, I will just yield 
to him as that time arises.
  I want to speak about these by specific incident to say exactly how 
much Israel is being attacked and let the American people judge who is 
the aggressor here. We will go over both rocket attacks, which are acts 
of terrorism, and suicide bombings.
  You might think I am reading every one of them in history, but I am 
not.

[[Page H2265]]

They are all serious, but I am reading what largely became the most 
serious of them. We will start just now with the rocket attacks.
  I am not going to read for today because the totals aren't in, but as 
of yesterday, over 600 rockets were launched into Israel. When I say 
600 rockets, I don't want people to think they are small, the size of 
this table or my cane. We are talking about Fajr-5 rockets. They are 
made by Iran. They are 21 feet long. That is basically a little bit 
longer than a Chevy Suburban. The warheads on these rockets are about 
90 kilograms, or 200 pounds of explosives. To put that into 
perspective, what detonated underneath my feet when I lost my legs was 
probably somewhere around 5 to 10 pounds. So each of these warheads 
being fired in, somewhere around 200 pounds of explosives.
  So just yesterday, 600 rockets; May 9, six rockets; April 25, five 
rockets; April 24, two rockets; April 23, 36 rockets; April 15, one 
rocket; January 20, one rocket; January 18, two rockets.
  Going back into 2020, December 26, two rockets; November 21, one 
rocket; November 14, two rockets; October 22, two rockets; October 16, 
one rocket; September 15, 13 rockets; August 21, 12 rockets; August 16, 
two rockets; August 2, one rocket; July 5, three rockets; June 26, two 
rockets; June 15, one rocket; February 23 and 24, 90 rockets over the 
course of that Sunday and Monday.
  Moving into 2019, November 12, 190 rockets launched by Palestinian 
Islamic jihad; May 5, 200 rockets; May 4, 250 rockets; March 25, one 
rocket; March 14, two rockets.
  Going back into 2018, November 12, one mortar; November 11, 17 
rockets; August 8, eight rockets; July 26, 11 rockets; July 14, 174 
rockets, barrage, Israel.
  And we are talking about--let's put into this perspective as well--a 
country roughly the size of the State of New Jersey, not the breadth of 
the United States of America.
  Mr. ROY. Has the gentleman traveled to Israel?
  Mr. MAST. Many times.
  Mr. ROY. Is the gentleman aware that even when it is the size of New 
Jersey, really the population center is really in an area pretty much 
the size of probably about a quarter of New Jersey or half of New 
Jersey, right?
  In Lebanon, for example, at all times, there is about 150,000 rockets 
sitting there pointing at this space between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 
the northern part of Israel, where virtually all of the population 
lives, of all walks of faith, by the way. They are under constant 
threat, and without Iron Dome would be in grave danger, as they are 
taking this rocket fire from the Gaza Strip today.
  Mr. MAST. You are exactly right. We have both had the honor of 
spending time there. I have had the honor in my life of wearing two 
military uniforms, for a dozen years in the U.S. Army and also for a 
period wearing the uniform of the Israel Defense Forces.
  One of the things that I learned so well in my time spent serving 
there was what I feel the same way about as a father of four. When you 
go over there and you get to the weekend and the time for Shabbat 
dinner, each family over there, because everybody serves, as they get 
their family together for that Shabbat meal, every family is waiting 
for a son, a daughter, a grandson, a granddaughter to come home from 
that weekend from that service that everybody is mandated to perform 
and that in all likelihood, sometime during their service, they will 
probably have to wield their weapon in defense of Israel, given the 
percentages of the times that they find themselves under attack.
  Mr. ROY. As we have been watching over the last several weeks with 
our friends in Israel under attack, particularly this week with the 
amount of missiles that are going in, there has been wide success, 
obviously, with Iron Dome, but obviously that puts a continued stress 
on Iron Dome. Is the gentleman as concerned as I am that we have this 
country standing alongside Israel to ensure that they have got the 
resources they need, that they can continue to have a strong Iron Dome, 
continue to be able to push back on the rockets that are being fired 
into Israel from Gaza Strip by Hamas?
  Mr. MAST. I could not agree more, and to put into perspective why, a 
great American word, Alamo. Israel is really, it is an Alamo in the 
Middle East, of freedom, democracy, human rights for all people. That 
is what they are in that region, and if we don't stand for them, for 
that friend, that great ally in this region, who do we stand for?
  Mr. ROY. I am a proud Representative of San Antonio, Texas, where our 
Alamo stands, so I appreciate that reference. Is the gentleman aware 
that there has been numerous casualties, numerous deaths as a result of 
this rocket fire, very specifically including non-Israeli citizens? In 
fact, I saw some social media yesterday of a young Indian woman from 
the country of India who was killed while visiting Israel, and that 
there have been numerous others, children, and others that have lost 
their lives, and, also, thousands upon thousands of Israeli farmland 
that has been torched and burned, livelihoods that have been put into 
disarray as a result of this rocket fire. Does the gentleman agree with 
that?
  Mr. MAST. I totally agree. Let's make a perspective on that as well.
  Mr. ROY. Please.
  Mr. MAST. I just went over a tremendous list of years of rocket 
attacks. Now, when Israel goes and flies over the Gaza Strip and puts a 
piece of ordnance on a target, it is because that location is where 
they were firing rockets from. They are defending themselves. That is 
very specific. It is the definition of defense.
  All of those rockets and mortars being lobbed into Israel, those are 
fired entirely indiscriminately beyond, say, they are trying to send 
them in an area. They are not trying to send those rockets in to land 
and take down a date tree or some other kind of farm field or something 
like that. Their specific intent is to indiscriminately hit the largest 
centers of population and anybody or any piece of infrastructure, 
whether it is related to military, civilians, restaurants, you name it, 
they don't care. It is the definition of indiscriminate killing.

                              {time}  1945

  Mr. ROY. Is the gentleman aware that there have been numerous people 
who have thrown out the phrase that Israel--many of our friends, by the 
way--that Israel has a right to defend itself. I mean, we hear this 
regularly.
  Would the gentleman agree that Israel has more than a right to defend 
itself, but rather a duty and, in fact, a responsibility to defend 
itself, defend the people of Israel, and to stand strong as what you 
just described, the greatest democracy in the Middle East with a 
plurality of individuals in that country who respect freedom and 
democracy in a multiethnic population even as we are, as a result, I 
believe, of the previous administration, experiencing a renaissance in 
the Middle East, potential peace. We are seeing the response to that 
here, if the gentleman would agree.
  Mr. MAST. I would respond to the gentleman by saying what greater 
calling for any government, what greater responsibility for any 
government, than to protect its people.
  You speak at length about the protection that the United States of 
America owes to its people on the southern border. It is one of the 
things that you address so regularly. That carries over to what we are 
speaking about right here.
  I would add on this point simply to that: When I go back in time and 
say what brought about me going over to put on the uniform of the IDF, 
I was a student in Boston. At that time, a recent Gaza war was going 
on, back in 2014. What I witnessed there, aside from people who were 
protesting Israel--again, for going out there and defending herself--
were people also seeing U.S. servicemembers like myself. They were out 
there to protest Israel, but they started harassing people like me and 
my family because they could see I was a U.S. servicemember. So, that 
goes to the jump that they make when they layer the United States and 
Israel next to one another.
  But what I said to myself after those experiences was this makes 
absolutely no sense. This is total hypocrisy. If any one of our 
neighbors--Mexico, some Caribbean country, Canada--started lobbing 
rockets or lobbing mortars into the United States of America, my 
friends in the service would go and eliminate those enemies. Everybody 
in

[[Page H2266]]

the United States of America would be grateful to them for doing so. 
How we do not afford that same right to Israel--or some of our 
colleagues do not--is absolutely beyond me.
  Mr. ROY. Would the gentleman be surprised if I told him that on my 
first trip to Israel in 2014 May, I believe, that we were able to take 
a helicopter tour of the north end of Israel, as I described earlier, 
where the bulk of the population is, and fly up the Jordan River and go 
up to the northern part of Israel, and that we would have been able to 
experience visiting a hospital in Israel where Israeli doctors, Jewish 
doctors, were caring for at the time--the gentleman will remember in 
2014 what was going on in Syria and the devastating toll that the 
Syrian regime was having on its own people--and that there were 
children and women and those who were being attacked in their own 
country in Syria who were receiving the best, top-notch medical care in 
the world in Israeli hospitals? Then, Israelis were secreting them back 
to Syria and not making it public so that there would be no reprisal 
taken against the Syrians because they had gone to get care in Israel.
  Would the gentleman be surprised by that, based on his experience and 
his service in Israeli Defense Forces?
  Mr. MAST. Not surprised in the slightest. We have seen this not just 
go on for those who were wounded in Syria and other places. We can see 
it right here in our own area of the world, where Israel responded to 
the earthquake in Haiti and other natural disasters around the globe. 
They are often among the first on the ground to go out there and 
respond.
  The gentleman has spoken about his time in Israel, and we have spoken 
about some of these rocket attacks. Again, I don't want to live in the 
ambiguous here. I want to speak to exactly what has gone on in history. 
I am now going to move at this point to some of the suicide bombings 
that have taken place in the State of Israel and go through some of 
those.
  In 2016, a bus bombing, 20 injured; Hamas takes credit.
  Now, before I continue with just saying ``Hamas takes credit'' or 
``Palestinian Islamic jihad,'' it is important to have perspective on 
that, as well. In 2006, Hamas is not just a terrorist organization. In 
2006, they became the majority-elected government for the Palestinian 
Authority. So, when people talk about a two-state solution, you are 
talking about Hamas, which I am going to speak about in length here 
being the government entity that would be that second state.
  Let's continue on. We will go to 2006 here. Rosh Ha'ir Restaurant 
bombing, 11 killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad.
  HaSharon Mall, December 2005, five killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad.
  Market bombing, October 26, seven killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad.
  Mall bombing, July 12, 2005, five killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad.
  Club bombing, February 25 in Tel Aviv, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, 
Hezbollah involvement.
  Bus bombing, January 29, 2004, Jerusalem, 11 killed, Hamas.
  Liberty Bell Park bus bombing, February 22, eight killed, al-Aqsa 
Martyrs' Brigades.
  Ashdod Port massacre, March 14, 2004, 10 killed in a double suicide 
bombing carried out by, again, Hamas.
  Beersheba bus bombing, August 31, 2004, 16 killed, Hamas claims 
responsibility.
  Again, I am reading to you just a small portion of all the attacks 
that I could read to you.
  Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing, March 5, 2003, 17 killed.
  Bus station massacre, January 5, 2003, in Tel Aviv, 23 killed, 
Palestinian Islamic jihad and Hamas.
  Mike's Place suicide bombing, a pub, April 30, 2003, three killed, 
Hamas.

  Gross Square attack, May 17, 2003, two killed, Hamas.
  Jerusalem, bus number six bombing, seven killed, Hamas claims 
responsibility.
  Davidka Square bus bombing, June 1, 2003, 17 killed, Hamas claims 
responsibility.
  The list could go on. I don't know if you would care to comment on 
any of this as I could continue year after year with these suicide 
attacks, the stabbings, the bombings, the vehicular manslaughter, the 
rocket attacks. It goes on and on.
  Mr. ROY. I would say to the gentleman that my response is that I 
could go through a similar list, and the gentleman has done that 
perfectly well.
  What I was struck by in my time in Israel, and that was particularly 
in the summer of 2019 as I already described and May 2014, the extent 
to which the people of Israel were so grateful, one, for the United 
States' support in working with them on Iron Dome in order to have the 
technology, and not just Iron Dome, David's Sling and all the various 
different technologies that they are using to be able to live, to be 
able to live in less fear, and their ability, by the way, to build a 
fence, to build an infrastructure and border in order to prevent 
traffic and people coming in that might wish to do them harm, and the 
extent to which they would tell stories about loved ones that each and 
every one of them had lost in one of these suicide bombings or some 
other attack.
  How gratified they were that many of these things were things they 
were talking about in the past and that Israel was moving forward and 
being able to live in peace and to be able to live without fear of 
those kinds of attacks as much.
  I would just question whether the gentleman would agree that--I don't 
necessarily always believe in coincidences when we have an 
administration who refuses to even call Prime Minister Netanyahu for 
the first 40 or 50 days of the administration. We have an 
administration that was more interested in sitting down with Iran than 
sitting down with our friends in Israel, so that we might see that some 
of our enemies, our mutual enemies, are emboldened to engage in this 
kind of attack.
  Mr. MAST. I could not agree more with the gentleman. It is important 
that we acknowledge the truth. Who are our friends, who are our 
enemies, who those are that are posing a threat, what are the threats 
that they are posing, we make that known.
  That has an effect on the saber-rattling, and we should take the 
saber-rattling that is going on, whether it is in Iran or whether it is 
in a Palestinian-controlled territory or Syria or anywhere else, we 
need to take that seriously.
  To your point about that pride that you saw and that friendship 
between the U.S. and Israel, on a separate experience, again, in 
Israel, I believe this was in 2017 for myself, I am with my wife. We 
are down on the Sea of Galilee with other Members of Congress, 
literally inside of a restaurant filled simply with patrons of that 
area. The patrons in that restaurant stood up and to us, who were 
Members of Congress, the United States House of Representatives, 
bipartisan, they sang ``God Bless America.''
  I would challenge anybody that we could find many places across the 
globe where we would find a group of restaurant patrons who would stand 
and sing twice, in my experience, ``God bless America.''
  Mr. ROY. Well, the gentleman recounts something that I experienced, 
as well, and, more than that, a heartfelt description of the reasons 
that the Israelis were so thankful for our friendship and our support 
and their belief, I believe rightfully so, that the United States' 
relationship with Israel is a significant part of their ability to 
exist as a nation, particularly under the intense scrutiny and attack 
that they find themselves.
  Here we are, I think this Friday will be the 73rd anniversary of 
Israeli independence. I think I am right about that. I pulled it out of 
my head. That almost now 75 years is, I think, in direct connection to 
America's support. Of course, it has ebbed and flowed over the years, 
but that support and that particularly strong support with President 
Trump moving the Embassy to Jerusalem, I believe that the people of 
Israel rightfully recognize that support is key to their security and 
safety, if the gentleman agrees.
  Mr. MAST. I totally agree. But it didn't stop with moving the Embassy 
to Jerusalem. It had to do with acknowledging if Iran is a friend or an 
enemy and reversing what had gone on with the Joint Comprehensive Plan 
of Action, moving away from Iran, moving back toward our consistent 
friend and ally, Israel. It had more to do with going out there and 
recognizing the relationships that we have through our

[[Page H2267]]

cross-military training exercises that we do, sharing of military 
technologies, and so on and so on.
  It didn't just end with acknowledging something that everybody knew 
for decades since the beginning of Israel, where the capital is. That 
was an important piece of it for the President to make that 
acknowledgment. But it went so far beyond. Would the gentleman agree?
  Mr. ROY. Well, I do agree with the gentleman. I might say to the 
Speaker, in order to be deferential to my friend's time, if I might ask 
how much time remains in the gentleman's half-hour?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 8 minutes remaining.
  Mr. ROY. I would agree with the gentleman. I would add a couple of 
other thoughts. I noticed today a tweet on May 11, which would be 
yesterday, by Supreme Leader Khamenei, ``Palestinians are awake and 
determined. They must continue this path. One can only talk with the 
language of power with these criminals,'' i.e., Israelis. ``They must 
increase their strength, stand strong, confront the enemy,'' the enemy 
being, of course, Israel, ``and force them to stop their crimes.''
  Would the gentleman agree that Iran is certainly responsible and tied 
to Hamas, to the supply of rockets and technology that is being 
targeted toward our friends in Israel and that we must remember where 
Iran stands with respect to Israel and the United States?

  Mr. MAST. I thank the gentleman for his question.
  I could continue on through this list and read year after year, nine 
killed, nine killed, six killed, 14 killed, 11 killed. I read Hamas, 
Palestinian Islamic jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and Hezbollah in 
that list, as well, and the list goes on year after year after year.
  As you look at those threats and those calls to violence, it begs the 
question--I can't take credit for this quote. I forget who exactly said 
it first. But they said you don't sell a gun to somebody that wants to 
shoot you.
  This was the failed policy that President Trump worked to correct, in 
reversing from that relationship with Iran and strengthening that 
relationship with Israel. Would the gentleman agree?
  Mr. ROY. I would agree, and I think that it is critically important 
to remember who we are dealing with and who we empower at the expense 
of both our national security and the national security of our friends 
in Israel.
  I would also offer a tweet that I saw from his home base in Qatar, 
the Hamas political director and literal United States designated 
terrorist Ismail Haniyeh. He tweets his support, tweets his support of 
the attacks on Israel.
  This individual notes, and I don't know that we need to get into 
cancel culture, but this individual notes that he won't be banned from 
Twitter, and I think this is something we should all be cognizant of as 
we are looking around the world when we remember that, in the previous 
administration, with President Trump's policies, that we were seeing 
extraordinary gains in peace in the Middle East, Arab countries 
recognizing Israel, opening up flights and engagement between Israel 
and countries that before would not recognize them. Does the gentleman 
agree with that?

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his question.
  Not only do I agree with that, but I think one of the most important 
points that we make on that is that it was without concession. We 
didn't have to negotiate. The President did not negotiate or barter a 
deal that said, Listen, you need to go out there and submit to another 
authority that is bombing you, sending mortars, sending rockets, 
kidnapping people from your territory. You don't have to submit to some 
other authority in order to have this peace.
  It was a negotiated peace based upon a truth and, I believe, an 
acknowledgment by those other nations of exactly what has been read off 
here today. The historical documentation of rocket attacks, mortar 
attacks, suicide bombings that point to the fact that Israel is not the 
aggressor. They show a tremendous amount of restraint year after year 
after year. The fact that their enemies that attack them are not simply 
a smoldering pile of ashes at this point is demonstration of the 
restraint.
  I don't know that if we had that kind of history, we would--that our 
enemy would not be a smoldering pile of ashes.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the gentleman. I would 
suggest that the gentleman made the point best earlier when he said, 
How would we respond in United States of America if this many missiles 
were being fired from Mexico?
  Where, by the way, we have cartels who are operating control of our 
border.
  If we had, literally--and here is some of the data. The gentleman 
quoted some data. Here is some from my staff:
  More than 1,500 missiles--possibly 700 already, I think the gentleman 
alluded to--in the last 72 hours, on average, every 3 minutes by Hamas; 
200 of the rockets fired fell short of crossing the border and caused 
civilian damage; IDF targeting military PIJ and Hamas infrastructure, 
the operatives and the rocket launchers, an Iron Dome battery was 
operationalized from reserves. IDF forwarded an attack by an elite 
Hamas unit, which is trying to dig a tunnel into Israel. And now you 
have got the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Quds Brigade saying it will 
expand the ring of fire and target Tel Aviv, and after Tel Aviv with 
huge rocket barrage. This is the state of things in Israel.
  And to the gentleman's point, and I will yield back: No American 
would be sitting here today--if I am sitting here in Austin, Texas, or 
San Antonio, Texas, about 150 miles to the west and over to Mexico, if 
we had 1,500 rockets firing in on San Antonio or Austin, look, man, I 
would be grabbing my weapons and I would be heading down to the border, 
and we would be taking care of business.
  This is the reality of what we are talking about. So when I hear 
people saying Israel has a right to defend itself, Israel has a duty 
and a responsibility to defend itself, I support them fully.
  Mr. Speaker, I would yield back to the gentleman.
  Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, by my calculation, we should have about 2 
minutes remaining. So I will try to give the gentleman the last word in 
just a moment.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just bring us back to what I opened up with for 
myself here. And that was the tweet, the statement that was put out in 
a number of places by our colleague, who I am absolutely astounded sits 
on the Committee on Foreign Affairs with me, Representative Omar. That 
Palestinians deserve protection and that Israel is somehow the 
aggressor committing an act of terrorism. And ask that the American 
people go out there, do your own research, look up what the history is, 
look at the attacks, see what's going on, and judge that for yourself 
in the most honest way that you can.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. This was kind of an 
impromptu colloquy, but I think this is the best of what we do in the 
House, and I would like to do it more often with you and other 
colleagues.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just say to the gentleman who has served in IDF 
and who has served in our Armed Forces: You bear the scars of your 
service, and we thank you for that. You know well what the Israelis are 
experiencing every day. And I am glad that you and I stand here united, 
along with at least the majority of conference.
  I wish it was more of a bipartisan agreement of our duty in this 
country, our responsibility to stand with our friends in Israel, with 
whom we have an extraordinary relationship. That our joint efforts to 
stand athwart terrorists to build things like Iron Dome. To work 
together on missile defense technology has made this world infinitely 
safer.
  And that the most recent administration, the President Trump 
administration, deserves extraordinary credit, which it never gets in 
the press, for what was an unbelievable achievement with respect to 
Middle East peace and the direction we were headed.
  And that we are going to stand with Israel. That we are going to make 
that an unequivocal statement, that we stand with Israel, we are going 
to defend Israel, and we are going to make sure that we can work 
together in

[[Page H2268]]

peace going forward for the betterment of this world and for our mutual 
relationship.
  Mr. Speaker, I would yield to the gentleman for any closing thoughts.
  Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________