[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.