[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 197 (Thursday, November 30, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H5996-H5997]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, it is a little over 1 month now, 1\1/2\ 
months, since October 7 and the horrific things that happened to the 
good and peaceful people of Israel.
  Many, many deaths and unspeakable demonic actions were taken by Hamas 
against innocent Israeli citizens attending a festival or other events 
in their neighborhoods. I can't begin to speak about how ugly some of 
these things are. The rape, the murder, and the beheadings are beyond 
polite company. Maybe we need to be a little less polite in talking 
about just what kind of horrific activity Hamas has been up to. Even 
the Gazan people are subject to the terrorism of not being able to make 
a move or make a change in that area they are trying to live in.
  Nonetheless, Israelis have bent over backwards for decades in so-
called land-for-peace deals and so-called two-state solutions. Yet when 
Israel gives 99 percent of what they asked for to the Palestinian 
Authority, previously to Arafat, and to Hamas, they aren't really there 
at the table to negotiate. They are not there to acknowledge the State 
of Israel as a Jewish state or its right to exist. They want it 
eliminated.
  When they talk about ``from the river to the sea,'' there is no room 
for compromise with them for acknowledging a Jewish state and a Jewish 
people in the State of Israel.
  So why are we pussyfooting around saying, cease-fire, more land for 
peace, more two-state solution?
  They do not want the existence of Israel.
  That is the first question we should ask any of them when we sit 
down: Okay, do you want this solution?
  Do you want that solution?
  Do you agree that there should be the existence of the State of 
Israel as a Jewish state?
  They will turn away from the table because there is not a 
negotiation. There is not an agreement. They do not care to have peace. 
They care to wipe Israel off the face of the map.
  So what does that mean right now in the short term?
  Yes, it looks like a seventh day of cease-fire, at least in the Gaza 
area, but when you squeeze that balloon, Mr. Speaker, then you get 
other problems like the violence in Jerusalem, on the

[[Page H5997]]

West Bank, and others that will pop up. Whether it is Hamas here one 
day or Hezbollah in another area up north, we still know that Iran is 
sponsoring this terrorism and that Qatar is happy to help finance it.
  It is time to get very real about this. What Israel really needs to 
be able to do is to root out the problems, the corruption, and the deep 
problems that exist within Gaza. Many, many miles of tunnels go 
sometimes 200 feet underground, the shafts go up inside houses, inside 
mosques, and inside hospitals and they use the innocent citizens there 
as shields. All those areas Hamas happily hides behind so they can try 
to make Israel look bad when they surgically go in and try to remove 
these evil terrorists.
  There is a dramatic difference in the two sides even though our 
universities and the media are duping our young people into waving 
their Palestinian flags. There is a dramatic difference in the two 
sides. One seeks peace, one seeks existence, and the other seeks to 
wipe Israel off the map. They don't want peace. They don't want 
existence.
  So I call upon the Biden administration to stand behind Israel in a 
real way and in a meaningful way. The IDF needs to be able to do what 
it needs to get the job done in northern Gaza and to finish the job of 
wiping out the existence of Hamas who will continue to launch rockets 
and commit terrorism against Israel and even its so-called own people.
  Allow Israel to finish the job instead of us duplicitously saying, 
oh, we need to have a cease-fire.
  That is because there wouldn't be a fire to cease to begin with had 
not Hamas started, really, with the first moments of deeding the Gaza 
strip over to that side years ago when the rockets were launched even 
before the ink was dry on the agreement.
  That is what we need to have done. The Biden administration needs to 
show it is firmly behind Israel and what needs to get done instead of 
these half measures.
  Israel has a right to exist. Israel needs us as a firm ally. We need 
to get off our backsides and get the aid to them that they really need 
that we passed in this House.

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