[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 195 (Tuesday, November 28, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5619-S5620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Israel

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in the coming weeks, Congress has a 
responsibility to equip America and our allies to face a historic array 
of national security challenges. To understand the urgency of this 
moment, just look at the impossible choices facing our ally Israel as 
it works to bring innocent people home from terrorist captivity.
  These brutal terrorists bankroll their existence with the blood of 
innocent people. They know that their hostages can be cashed in for a 
brief reprieve from justice or in exchange for terrorists incarcerated 
in Israel. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is one of Hamas's own 
design. Just as there is no moral equivalence between terrorism and 
self-defense, there is no moral equivalence between innocent hostages 
and convicted terrorists and criminals.
  Unfortunately, this is not just a reminder for the activists on elite 
campuses and in national newsrooms who uncritically lapped up and 
regurgitated activist propaganda. It is also for some of our colleagues 
here in Congress.
  According to some reports, Senate Democrats will use their caucus 
lunch today to discuss placing restrictions on U.S. military assistance 
to Israel. One of our colleagues is already on the record demanding 
that President Biden ``be more aggressive with the Israelis.'' Another 
has declared that ``not one penny will be coming to Israel'' unless our 
ally bends to his view--offered from the comfort of a Senate office--on 
how Israel should conduct self-defense operations.
  If Senate Democrats want to vote to tie the hands of Israeli soldiers 
as they defend their country against vicious terrorists, I welcome such 
a debate.
  For anyone who needs to hear it again, the conflict unfolding today 
is between a sovereign democracy that takes great pains to avoid 
civilian casualties and terrorist butchers who go out of their way to 
inflict civilian casualties and put their own civilians in harm's way. 
Israel deserves the time, the space, and the resources to restore its 
security, and I will stand by our ally 100 percent.
  For that matter, our own people--American men and women in uniform--
deserve the same unwavering commitment to restoring credible deterrence 
against Iran.
  Since October 17, Iran-backed terrorists have launched at least 73 
attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and

[[Page S5620]]

Syria. Clearly, President Biden's strikes against desert warehouses 
have not given our adversaries pause. The world's leading state sponsor 
of terrorism remains demonstrably undeterred.
  Right now, we have a responsibility to equip Israel to destroy Hamas, 
deter violence against American servicemembers, and invest seriously in 
American hard power--a language our adversaries in Iran, in Moscow, and 
in Beijing actually understand. Supplemental national security 
legislation is our chance to uphold this responsibility.