[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 190 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5531-S5533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ARMENIAN PROTECTION ACT OF 2023

  Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, shortly, I will ask unanimous consent for 
passage of the Armenian Protection Act of 2023.
  Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act of 1992 was straightforward. 
It kept Azerbaijan from receiving military assistance from the United 
States. In the wake of 9/11, we granted the President the authority to 
waive the statute and in order to protect American interests, and as a 
result, we began sending military aid to Azerbaijan.
  But we attached a very important condition: The Azerbaijani 
Government could not engage in offensive attacks or undermine the peace 
process with Armenia. Their recent actions in Nagorno-Karabakh have 
clearly failed in meeting this very straightforward standard. Not only 
did they blockade the Lachin corridor for 10 months, creating 
significant hardships, they also violently attacked innocent Armenians 
and forced the dissolution of the Government of Nagorno-Karabakh on 
September 28.
  The Armenian Protection Act of 2023 is simple: It would hold 
Azerbaijan accountable for these actions. As a result of Azerbaijan's 
failure to meet the

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terms of our agreement with them, it would prevent the United States 
from sending military aid for a period of 2 years. After that time, the 
President could once again decide what best serves the American 
interests in that region. The administration already has the authority 
to cut off the support, but as this conflict has unfolded, they have 
not taken public action.
  We must send a strong message to show our partners around the world 
that America will enforce the conditions that we attach to military 
aid. If we do not take action when countries willfully ignore the terms 
of our agreements with them, our agreements will become effectively 
meaningless and toothless.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in holding Azerbaijan accountable for 
their actions, enforce our agreements with them, and stand with the 
Armenian people in the face of unprovoked aggression.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Armenian Protection Act of 2023.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign 
Relations be discharged from further consideration of S. 3000 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 3000) to repeal Freedom Support Act section 907 
     waiver authority with respect to assistance to Azerbaijan.

  There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the 
Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. PETERS. I ask unanimous consent that the Peters substitute 
amendment at the desk be agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 1367) in the nature of a substitute was agreed to, 
as follows:

               (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute.)

        Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
     following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Armenian Protection Act of 
     2023''.

     SEC. 2. FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT SECTION 907 WAIVER REPEAL.

       The President may not exercise the waiver authority 
     provided pursuant to title II of the Foreign Operations, 
     Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 
     2002 (Public Law 107-115) (22 U.S.C. 5812 note), under the 
     heading ``assistance for the independent states of the former 
     soviet union'' under subsection (g), with respect to amounts 
     appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal years 
     2024 or 2025.

  Mr. PETERS. I ask that the bill, as amended, be considered read a 
third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Also without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read 
the third time.
  Mr. PETERS. I know of no further debate on the bill, as amended.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there any further debate?
  Hearing none, the bill having been read the third time, the question 
is, Shall the bill pass?
  The bill (S. 3000), as amended, was passed.
  Mr. PETERS. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Georgia.


                                 Israel

  Mr. OSSOFF. Mr. President, when Hamas gunmen stormed into towns and 
kibbutzim in southern Israel and massacred over 1,000 Israeli 
civilians--killing families, raping women, abducting babies, torturing 
and beheading Jews--in the very state that was established after the 
Holocaust to be their sanctuary, the overwhelming majority of Americans 
were and still are united in our grief, outrage, and solidarity with 
the Israeli people. For Jews, these events call to mind the 
Einsatzgruppen SS, the Nazi death squads who hunted and massacred our 
relatives across Eastern Europe 80 years ago.
  The slaughter of Jews at such scale and with such cruelty reopened 
deep Jewish wounds suffered throughout our history. Salt in those 
wounds was the minimization and even celebration of this massacre by a 
few, including a few in the United States who attempted to excuse such 
atrocities as a righteous comeuppance for Israeli policies or the 
inevitable consequence of Israel's very existence.
  That moment required moral clarity. No matter one's objections to 
Israeli policy or one's perspective on history, there is no 
justification and can be no apology for the deliberate massacre and 
torture and abduction of civilians. There is no excuse, there is no 
context, historical or political, that mitigates the crime.
  It is clear that under such circumstances, Israel has an obligation 
to protect its citizens and a right to do so with force, and this, too, 
requires moral clarity. No government could be expected to tolerate 
such an attack and such a threat without taking decisive action to 
defend itself and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
  Mr. President, now 5 weeks since the October 7 massacre, Israel's 
military response, which is substantially armed by the United States, 
directly impacts the lives of millions of people, the future of the 
Middle East, and America's national security, and it is therefore a 
necessary subject of scrutiny by the U.S. Senate. So the Senate must 
acknowledge that conditions for civilians in Gaza are catastrophic and 
that this unfolding humanitarian catastrophe is both an immense tragedy 
and a threat to our national security.
  Hamas imbeds its military capabilities within Gaza's civilian 
infrastructure. It hides behind and beneath Gaza's civilian population. 
But the depraved tactics of Hamas do not relieve Israeli leaders of 
their obligations to protect innocent life, nor should they harden our 
hearts against the innocent people who live under their rule.
  In 5 weeks, relentless airstrikes and the continuous use of massive 
munitions in dense urban areas have killed thousands of civilians and 
seriously wounded many thousands more, including many children.
  In a territory half the size of DeKalb County, GA, tens of thousands 
of homes have been destroyed or damaged beyond use, and more than 1\1/
2\ million people have been displaced. Clean water, food, and medicine 
are scarce, and the continued obstruction of aid necessary for 
sanitation and healthcare will worsen suffering, disease, and death. 
Small children are wasting from malnutrition and falling ill in 
overcrowded shelters and makeshift camps. Imagine the desperation of 
families with young children just trying to survive. And this, too, 
requires moral clarity.
  The extent of civilian death and suffering in Gaza is unnecessary, it 
is a moral failure, and it should be unacceptable to the United States.
  There is no doubt that to defeat the threat posed by Hamas, force is 
required. With the use of force, no matter how judicious, facing an 
enemy hiding behind civilians, there will be civilian casualties. But 
restraint and the acceptance of some military risk out of concern for 
innocent life are demonstrations of strength, even and especially when 
confronting a brutal enemy like Hamas. Concern for the innocent, 
especially when fighting an enemy unbound by any morality, demonstrates 
the values for which the United States should stand and which Israel 
proclaims--the same values meant to be the bedrock of our alliance.
  An unmitigated humanitarian disaster in Gaza is not just a moral 
failure, it undermines American national security; it heightens the 
risk that the war might spread and draw American forces further into 
combat.
  It sows the seeds of hate and dims the prospects for a long-term 
sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It gives fodder to 
terrorists who would strike Americans and our allies abroad and at 
home. It damages the credibility of the United States and our allies as 
champions of a future defined by humanitarian values--the same values 
at stake in Ukraine, where Russia would push dictatorship into Europe, 
and in Asia, where China threatens the future of human freedom.
  If, in 6 months, Gaza is rubble, with tens of thousands of civilians 
dead and millions of desperate refugees, with no viable plan to govern 
its ruins, that would be a disaster not just for all those killed and 
wounded and immiserated, but also for Israel, for the region, and for 
the United States.
  The United States has stood with Israel since October 7 and still 
does. The President powerfully condemned Hamas atrocities. He flew to 
Israel while Israel was under fire. He rushed

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supplies to the IDF and sent powerful military assets to deter Iran and 
its proxies. Americans are working around the clock to secure the 
release of hundreds of hostages. Nevertheless, requests by the United 
States that the Israel leadership conduct a more targeted campaign, 
that they permit and provide safe passage for aid essential to the 
sustenance of innocent life, that they clearly define objectives, that 
they prevent extrajudicial killings by extremists in the West Bank, and 
that they present a credible plan for Gaza's future governance have 
mostly been ignored.
  I fervently want Israel to succeed, both in defeating the threat 
posed by Hamas and as a historic effort to secure a safe homeland for 
Jews. But I do not accept that the total deprivation of millions of 
innocent civilians is necessary for Israel to secure its objectives or 
in the national interest of the United States. And where the United 
States is committing arms, funds, and support for those efforts, we 
must guard our principles and our interests.
  Mr. President, I urge Israel's political leaders to act with wisdom, 
to listen to Israel's greatest friend and ally, the United States. Just 
as I pray for the freedom of hostages taken so cruelly from their 
families, as a pro-Israel Jewish American, I urge mercy for the 
innocent civilians in Gaza.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Peters). The Chair would like to clarify 
for the information of the Senate that Senator Cramer is named as a 
conferee on H.R. 2670.
  The majority leader.

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