[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 179 (Tuesday, October 31, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5236-S5237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ISRAEL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the brutal terrorist attacks of October 
7 poured gasoline on the flames of anti-Semitic hatred around the 
world. Take the alarming reports this weekend out of Russia, a country 
with a long, troubled history of anti-Semitism. After weeks of pro-
Hamas propaganda spewed from the Kremlin, an angry mob overran a 
provincial airport and surrounded a plane that had just arrived

[[Page S5237]]

from Israel. Chillingly, the mob went person to person, checking 
passports and asking if they were Muslim or Jew--a modern-day pogrom in 
Southern Russia.
  Vladimir Putin is usually quick to accuse other countries of imagined 
atrocities, but he has issued no such condemnation of Hamas for the 
very real savagery inflicted on innocent Israelis. In fact, as this 
latest despicable episode of anti-Semitism unfolded on Russian soil, 
Putin's regime welcomed a delegation of Hamas terrorists to the 
Kremlin.
  The Russian Government's policy is to demand that Israel agree to a 
cease-fire--a de facto amnesty for the terrorist aggressors who 
slaughtered children in their homes a few weeks ago. In that regard, 
street protestors across the West have found common cause with a 
Russian dictator.
  No major power has done more to turbocharge Iran's terrorist network 
in the Middle East than Putin's Russia. The Kremlin's intervention in 
Syria allowed Tehran to establish a massive corridor of resources to 
terrorist proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas. So it should surprise no 
one that Iran has happily provided Russia with a kamikaze drone to fire 
at Ukrainian cities.
  Russia, Iran, and China do not share an ideology, but they do share 
interests. They see themselves in conflict with the West and especially 
with America. Russia would love to see Iranian-backed terrorists in the 
Middle East weaken America and our allies. Iran would love to see a 
Russian victory against Ukraine that divides the West and deepens its 
own defense cooperation with Moscow. China, for its part, would love to 
see America's resolve to stand with European and Israeli allies and 
reestablish actual deterrence against Russia and Iran crumble.
  So at the risk of repeating myself, the threats facing America and 
our allies are serious, and they are intertwined. If we ignore that 
fact, we do so at our own peril.

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