[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 85 (Monday, May 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2534-S2535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ISRAEL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, yesterday was the deadliest day yet 
in the continued fighting between the terrorist forces attacking Israel 
and Israel's measured, precise, and defensive response.
  Hamas unleashed another round of rocket barrages, intentionally 
targeting civilian areas all across Israel. Israel intensified its 
campaign to, among other specific military objectives, destroy the 
terrorist group's underground networks of weapons storage and command 
and control.
  Last week, Hamas's rocket attacks took the life of a 5-year-old 
Israeli boy. And because Hamas, in stark violation of the laws of war, 
intentionally co-locates its terrorist facilities in civilian buildings 
in neighborhoods, Israeli strikes have regrettably led to civilian 
casualties in Gaza.
  No one is glad to see the fighting, but we are already seeing some 
push the false narrative that this conflict is a tragic dispute between 
two legitimate combatants where both sides share blame that is roughly 
equal--what nonsense. This yields calls for blanket cease-fires and 
people wagging their fingers at both sides. This camp apparently 
includes some of our own Senate colleagues.
  To say that ``both sides'' need to deescalate downplays the 
responsibility the terrorists have for initiating the conflict in the 
first place and suggests Israelis are not entitled to defend themselves 
against ongoing rocket barrages. I completely reject this obscene moral 
equivalence.
  Now, the second false narrative is the view on the increasingly vocal 
far left that Israel is, to quote one far-left Member of the House, an 
``apartheid state.'' Another says Israel has perpetrated ``an act of 
terrorism.''
  Look, this is not a conflict between Israel and the Palestinian 
people. Hamas has sought to hijack recent tensions to advance its own 
narrow, violent objectives. In that sense, it is a conflict between 
Israel and a terrorist rump state in Gaza that uses its civilian 
population as human shields and exploits their suffering for political 
gain. These terrorists set up shop in apartment buildings and under 
press offices. They direct rocket attacks from the cover of schools and 
markets. In the past, when their operatives have been killed, they 
passed them off to the international community as civilian victims of 
Israel.
  Few countries in history spend as much effort to avoid civilian 
casualties during war as Israel and the United States. We hold our 
militaries to the highest standard. Our Israeli friends take pain to 
defend themselves in ways that are responsible and spare the very 
civilians Hamas is willing to sacrifice for its propaganda. Israel 
invests heavily in precision munitions. They spend precious time after 
attacks confirming target identification. And listen to this: They even 
provide advance warning to civilians in Gaza before specific buildings 
are targeted, even when doing so means the terrorists may also 
evacuate.
  It is all well and good for President Biden to speak with the 
President of the Palestinian Authority, but he holds little sway in 
Gaza. And twice he has rejected generous offers from different Israeli 
Governments aimed at establishing an enduring peace.
  But if the so-called international community wants to actually make a

[[Page S2535]]

difference--really make a difference--they can impose real costs on 
those who fund the terror weapons of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic 
Jihad.
  We know where their return address is. It is over in Tehran.
  I have been proud to stand with Israel for years, and I am proud to 
stand with Israel today. The United States needs to stand foursquare 
behind our ally. President Biden must remain strong against the growing 
voices within his own party that create false equivalence between 
terrorist aggressors and a responsible state defending itself.
  Israel deserves an opportunity to restore deterrence and to impose 
costs on terrorists the international community has been unwilling or 
unable to impose. There is a saying that has been around for quite a 
while: If Hamas laid down its weapons tomorrow, there would be no more 
fighting; if Israel laid down their weapons, there would be no more 
Israel.
  So let's leave no doubt where America stands

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