[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 17, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5023-S5024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Israel
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, as I have said before, but still feel it
deeply in my gut, no words can fully express the horror of Hamas's
attack on Israel two Saturdays ago.
In a single day, 1,300 Jews murdered in cold blood: men, women,
children, the elderly, the disabled, as old as nearly 100 years old,
down to toddlers and infants.
I was told that at one of the kibbutzim, Hamas rounded up over a
hundred people--from 90 years old down to little babies--into the
recreation room and then machine-gunned every one of them down.
And now, it is reported that about 200 hostages are being held by
Hamas, including Americans. I just walked by the TV, they said they
just showed the first hostage, a 22-year-old girl. It wrenches your
stomach how evil these people are. How evil. We Jewish people have been
used to this for thousands of years. We live with it.
As I mentioned when I talked about the kibbutz, I remembered my
great-grandmother. In 1941, the Nazis came into Europe and told her--
she was well-known because her late husband was a famous rabbi--Gather
your greater family on the porch of your home. They made the 800 Jews
in Chortkiv go to the town square, which was near her home. Thirty-five
people gathered, from 88 years old to 3 months. They said to her, You
are all coming with us. She said, We are not moving. They machine-
gunned every one of them down, in front of the others. This is what we
live with, and this is why we are so resolute that the threat of Hamas
must be extinguished.
This morning, my four colleagues who traveled to Israel and I will
have a phone conversation with President Biden about how we can be most
helpful to bring all of the hostages home safely. I promised the
families we met that we will do everything we can, and we are exploring
every option. The five of us met with the hostage families, and there
wasn't a dry eye in the house watching the videos. Some of them had
videos; Hamas sent some of the videos to the families. We were just
weeping together about the cruel, inhumanity of Hamas and the
desperation these families had to get their loved ones back.
October 7 will go down as a day of inextinguishable grief. The
deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust--
[[Page S5024]]
a reminder of much older, darker days we must never return to.
So when my colleagues and I traveled to Israel this past weekend, we
delivered a simple message to the Jewish people: America will stand
with Israel as an unrelenting partner.
And I promised that I will do everything possible to ensure that the
U.S. Senate provides Israel with the support she needs to defend her
people. As the highest ranking Jewish elected official ever in America,
as the first Jewish majority leader, I will do everything I can to see
that that happens, as will so many of my colleagues, Jew and non-Jew
alike, Democrat and Republican alike, which we so appreciate.
The Senate must, above all, work quickly and swiftly to draft,
consider, and pass a strong aid package for Israel as soon as we can.
That includes military support, intelligence support, diplomatic help.
On the military side, the Israelis have outlined to us on their trip
what they have needed, and we have conveyed that to the administration.
And very importantly, I spoke with the President yesterday, and he
said something that I had been urging: that there be a significant
amount of humanitarian aid to help victims and innocent Palestinians
who have nothing to do with Hamas. While I was abroad, I spoke with the
Israeli leadership. Every single member we met with, we said we want to
make sure you have what you need to eliminate the threat of Hamas, but
we also reminded them that we must provide humanitarian assistance to
those who need it, including innocent Palestinian citizens, in the
fastest, safest, and most effective way possible. We are going to keep
working to ensure that happens.
There are reports in Israel that Hamas was trying to block that aid
in certain ways, block the highways that people drove down. Some told
us that when Israeli soldiers were putting together water mains to
bring water to some of the people, Hamas were shooting at them. But we
must persist. We must be above the kind of evil cruelty that we saw
from Hamas. We must go by the rule of law and make sure that we do
everything we can to minimize the pain and loss of innocent civilians,
Palestinians, and everyone else.
I thank my colleagues Senators Rosen, Kelly, Cassidy, and Romney for
joining on this bipartisan delegation. Our mission in Israel, as I
said, was threefold: to send a clear message of solidarity, to assess
what Israel's security needs are right now so we can put together a
strong aid package, and show that support for Israel is
bipartisan. Standing with the Israeli Government, as I mentioned, we
got a list of what military assistance they need in order to fully
defend themselves and eliminate the threat of Hamas.
Now, tomorrow, President Biden, too, will travel to Israel, to
affirm--as only an American President can--that as long as there is a
United States of America, Israel will never be alone.
I have known President Biden since he was Senator Biden and Vice
President Biden and, now, President Biden. His support for Israel comes
from the heart. He is a believer, and that is so good. And I know he
will deliver a strong message of support and solidarity when he comes
before the Jewish people.
And I know he will reiterate--as my colleagues and I did when meeting
with each Israeli leader--the need to follow the laws of war and
minimize civilian Palestinian deaths. This is very important, very
important. And civilian casualties are something we stressed strongly
when we spoke to Israeli leaders.
Now, make no mistake, the task Israel faces is so, so difficult.
Eliminate the threat of Hamas--hard enough. Secure the return of
hostages, safely, held by these evil, vicious, horrible terrorists.
Cruel. And do so while minimizing the loss of innocent Palestinian
lives. This is all not easy, but it is very important we make every
effort to achieve all three.
And as we continue working with the Biden administration to stand
Israel on the world stage, the Senate has a lot to do here at home. To
move on a robust aid package quickly, I am instructing Senators Murray,
Reed, and Cardin--our leading national security committee chairs--to
work with our Republican colleagues and with the Biden administration
on the details of an aid package that the Senate can take up as soon as
possible, hopefully within the next few weeks. That package will
include military aid, diplomatic help, humanitarian aid, and
intelligence aid, all things Israel needs.
With the House in disarray, the Senate will not wait to vote on an
Israeli aid package. We can't wait for the House. Who knows what is
going to be happening there? The Senate will go first, and it is my
hope that if the Senate can move quickly--and pass something with
strong bipartisan support--we can importune the House to act, despite
its current morass.
And very soon--perhaps as soon as today--I hope the Senate can also
act to pass a resolution championed by Chairman Cardin, Ranking Member
Risch, Leader McConnell, and myself condemning Hamas and affirming that
we stand with Israel and their right to defend themselves. The
resolution matters because the Senate must speak in one voice against
dangerous false equivalency between the evils of Hamas and the response
against them.
Let us not forget that Hamas does not believe in any Jewish State. If
you read some of their covenants and charters, Hamas would do to the
Jewish people in the rest of Israel what they did to the people along
the Gaza border. Israel therefore not only has the right but also the
obligation to defend itself and its people, to eliminate the threat of
Hamas, so they cannot carry out an attack, a vicious, cruel, heart-
wrenching attack like this ever again. And here in the Senate, we have
to do our part to help them. So the next few weeks will bring great
challenge not just for the Israeli people but for us here in America,
as we maintain our resolve to help the Israelis.
The world, unfortunately, moves on quickly from tragedy. Some are
already trying to move on from this tragedy, to obscure the nature of
Hamas's horror, and undermine Israel's right to defend herself. But for
all Israelis and for all supporters of Israel, across this country,
Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, Jew, gentile, Muslim,
Hindu, anybody, there cannot be any moving on from October 7. It is
going to stay here, like a deep weight in our hearts.
We must not allow the atrocities of Hamas to fade into obscurity. If
the world shakes its head and says, ``Well, that was yesterday,'' then
the horrors of Hamas are going to happen again. We have an obligation
to ensure it doesn't happen. I will do everything possible to ensure
the Senate acts as soon as possible.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.