[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 171 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5069-S5070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ISRAEL

  Mr. YOUNG. Madam President, throughout their history, the children of 
Israel have known persecution and sorrow. They have lived in exile and 
enslavement. They have faced bigotry and violence. Entire nations and 
civilizations have sought to extinguish them and vanished, but the 
Jewish people remain, and, against all odds, millions of their 
descendants gathered together in the Holy Land and founded a nation.
  Today, Israel is a vibrant democracy in the Middle East and a strong 
ally of the United States of America. Many people of faith would say 
the existence and perseverance of the State of Israel is itself 
evidence of divine providence.
  Yet, even today--even today--Israel faces existential threats. On 
October 7, Hamas terrorists carried out the worst attack on the Jewish 
people since the Holocaust: the slaughter of 1,400 people; the 
decapitation of babies; the execution of grandmothers; and the taking 
of nearly 200 hostages, including children, women, seniors, and 
American citizens. Thirty Americans were among the murdered--30 
Americans. Many of our fellow citizens have friends and family in 
Israel.
  Regardless of our faith, we are all, I know, heartbroken for the loss 
and sickened--sickened--by the cruelty. And, on behalf of the Hoosiers 
I represent, I want to express my deepest condolences to the people of 
Israel as they mourn and pray and bury the dead.
  As it has since its founding, against alliances of far larger nations 
and armies, this country, which is four times smaller than Indiana, 
will defend itself, and America will be here for Israel and support its 
right to confront this violence, this barbarism. We will do this 
because our values are the same: dedication to liberty and order, to 
tolerance, and to human dignity.
  Make no mistake, the days ahead will be difficult. As Members of this 
body know too well, Israel is still under threat, and the risk of 
additional fronts opening up is real.
  Over the past several days, I have been heartened by the strong 
bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate for the people of Israel. During 
this time of peril, this body cannot succumb to isolationism. We cannot 
abandon Israel any more than we can abandon our friends in Ukraine or 
Taiwan. On urgent matters of national security, we are stronger when we 
stand together, and in the difficult days ahead, we will work to 
support the people of Israel. I know we will continue that spirit.
  Relatedly, I call on the Biden administration to consult and closely 
work with this Congress to quickly fulfill--

[[Page S5070]]

quickly fulfill--any urgent Israeli requests for assistance and do all 
we can to fully support Israel.
  Now, colleagues, the Constitution of the United States lays out our 
responsibilities. Congress--Congress--has an important constitutional 
role in determining how the United States will respond to any 
additional acts of aggression.
  As we support and stand with our allies, we also must be crystal 
clear about what has happened. The attacks on the people of Israel 
orchestrated by Hamas were barbaric, depraved--they were evil. Long 
supported by the Iranian regime, Hamas's stated mission is to destroy 
the Jewish people.
  That is right--at the core of Hamas burns an age-old sickness: anti-
Semitism. It was the twisted inspiration for their massacre. This 
broken thinking, this horrific ideology liberates not a single life; 
instead, tragically, it will cost only more, including those of 
innocent Palestinian civilians.
  For the past 15 years, many peacekeeping Palestinians in Gaza have 
had their lives upended and exploited by the Hamas terrorist group. We 
acknowledge their suffering. We hope for change.
  Those in our media, on our college campuses, or even those serving in 
government who ascribe the actions of Hamas to anything else other than 
hatred; those who are so quick to decry injustices elsewhere but place 
murder and rape in some sort of perspective; those who provide context 
for savagery; those who sigh that both sides are equally guilty--to all 
of you, I say you are providing cover for monsters.
  The world view of Hamas must be added to the rollcall of evil 
ideologies that failed to destroy the Jewish people. And that is why we 
must stand with Israel. That is why. But that alone is not enough. You 
see, the murder of thousands of Jews brought reminders of the Holocaust 
and echoes of Russian pogroms and so many centuries of trials and 
tragedies. So we must also stand vigilant against and always oppose 
anti-Semitism wherever it appears, whatever movement it is attached to, 
whatever banner it marches underneath.
  In these difficult days, we echo the old prayer sung across 
synagogues to the Jewish people:

       May God have mercy on them and remove them from distress to 
     relief, from darkness to light, from subjugation to 
     redemption, now, speedily, and soon.

  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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