[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S24-S25]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Israel

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 3 months after the massacre of October 
7, Israel's Defense Minister observed that his country was fighting 
``an axis, not a single enemy.'' He was talking about Iran's terrorist 
proxies, arrayed to attack Israel on multiple fronts.
  But the reality of facing interconnected threats isn't unique to 
Israel. Around the world, our adversaries are colluding in new and 
aggressive ways. Authoritarians who disdain the West are arming and 
underwriting one another's aggression. And, as the Senate continues our 
work on supplemental national security legislation, we would do well to 
keep this in mind.
  Israel reports that it has succeeded in significantly degrading 
Hamas's military capacity in northern Gaza. But while the pace of 
operations may have slowed, Israel continues to face a dug-in Hamas 
threat in southern Gaza. And their terrorist enemies continue to 
exploit innocent civilians in their bid for survival. Hamas fighters 
brazenly steal international aid shipments, use Gazans as human 
shields, and hold more than 130 hostages, including Americans.
  So Israel's operations will continue because the threats to Israel 
remain. As I have said before, Israel needs the time, space, and 
support to restore its security.
  Unfortunately, that is not what the Biden administration has been 
providing. In fact, as the left wing of the Democratic Party grows more 
loudly and stridently anti-Israel, its leaders are second-guessing 
America's closest ally in the Middle East.
  Administration officials have taken to anonymously and shamefully 
accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu of seeking conflict with Hezbollah 
for domestic political reasons. Of course, reality is quite the 
opposite. For decades, it has been Hezbollah that seeks conflict with 
Israel and the West. It is the terrorists with Israeli and American 
blood on their hands who have chosen violence regardless of the current 
governments in Israel or the United States.
  And Hezbollah's attacks against Israel have only grown since October 
7. It is not Prime Minister Netanyahu who forced tens of thousands of 
Israelis to evacuate their homes in northern Israel. It was Hezbollah 
threats.
  By now, we all know about Hamas's terror tunnels. Well, Hezbollah has 
built them too. I led a delegation to Israel, and we saw them with our 
own eyes--efforts to infiltrate northern Israel for the same purpose 
that Hamas struck in Israel's south. And it is not a myth conjured by 
the Prime Minister. It is a real and growing threat that even his 
leading political opponent and fellow member of Israel's war cabinet 
Benny Gantz also warns about.

  Rather than sniping at Israel's war cabinet for taking Hezbollah 
seriously, the administration should tell Congress and our ally how it 
proposes to change the murderous calculus of Iran and its proxy.
  So the best way we can help our friends is to restore our own 
credibility in the region and take bolder steps to respond to our 
common aggressor Iran.
  The Biden administration has work to do to repair the damage done by 
3 years of retreat. The first thing they could do is admit they have a 
problem. Instead, they are busy patting themselves on the back. Last 
week, an administration spokesperson declared with pride that the 
President was taking a proactive approach to threats from Iran-backed 
terrorists. Honestly, nothing could be further from the truth.
  Instead of aggressively targeting the launch facilities and Houthi 
terrorists responsible for harassing global shipping and U.S. naval 
assets or sinking the Iranian spy vessel reportedly facilitating Houthi 
strikes, President Biden's passive policy means the Navy is expending 
million-dollar missiles to swat away thousand-dollar drones--million-
dollar missiles to take out

[[Page S25]]

thousand-dollar drones because, apparently, we don't have the nerve to 
target launch facilities. Rather than imposing costs on our enemy, we 
are allowing the enemy to impose costs on us.
  In response to more than 100 attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and 
Syria, the President has authorized isolated jabs at low-consequence, 
peripheral targets.
  No wonder. No wonder Iran isn't deterred. Tehran's strategy is 
actually working.
  If Hamas's capacity for violence is not destroyed, Palestinians and 
Israelis alike--including the hostages still in captivity--are going to 
continue to suffer.
  If the Houthis' capacity for violence is left intact, they will 
continue to attack civilian ships and disrupt the global economy.
  If Iran does not pay a price for its insidious support of terror from 
Israel and across the Middle East to Ukraine, it will continue to 
underwrite violence and claim innocent lives.
  America owes our ally Israel our continued support, and we owe Iran's 
web of terror the firm deterrence and swift justice it has always 
deserved.