[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S296-S297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  Iran

  Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise here today in support of our 
closest and longest standing ally in the Middle East, Israel, and also 
to prevent American taxpayer dollars from supporting terrorism.
  On October 7, Hamas broke the cease-fire with a horrific and barbaric 
attack on Israel. Hamas terrorists crossed the border. They killed 
unarmed citizens, raped and mutilated women, burned children, beheaded 
soldiers, and kidnapped innocent civilians as well. That horrific 
attack demonstrates the barbarity of this terrorist organization.
  For those who call on a cease-fire for Israel to somehow sponsor 
this, I call on you to call on Hamas to surrender. Hamas must 
surrender. Israel cannot tolerate an organization on its border that is 
dedicated to destruction of its state. Hamas has said time and time 
again they will continue to attack Israel in this barbaric way. Hamas 
must be destroyed and the United States must support Israel. Israel 
will be doing the world a favor when Hamas is destroyed.
  On that day, 1,200 Israelis were killed. It included 33 Americans. 
Hundreds of people were kidnapped, many of whom have not been returned. 
I have been posting about the hostages since this terrible event has 
happened. These folks are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, 
children. These folks are real people, and they must be returned. That 
is why it is so important that Hamas surrender, return the hostages, 
and the State of Israel must continue to defend itself until that 
happens.
  Now, we ought not support terrorism, especially not a brutal 
terroristic organization by the name of Hamas. We shouldn't undermine 
our foreign policy to support the State of Israel. And yet that is 
exactly what we are doing at this moment.
  There is an organization called the United Nations Relief and Works 
Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East, also called UNRWA. 
Last Friday, there was a report that a dozen UNRWA employees 
participated in the October 7 attack, six directly in the attack 
killing Israelis. A couple were responsible for logistics, procuring 
weapons. More were involved in kidnappings. Still more were traced to 
the sites where Israelis had been killed.
  The Wall Street Journal reports that perhaps 10 percent of UNRWA 
employees, some 1,200 people, may have links to Hamas or even the 
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which considers Hamas too moderate. Think of 
how crazy that is.
  UNRWA has been described as, essentially, a branch of Hamas. But, by 
the way, this is not a news flash that this

[[Page S297]]

happened. The UN has said they are going to launch an investigation 
into this. But guess what. We know through previous investigations that 
this was the pattern of UNRWA.
  The Trump administration knew this, and so they cut off funding for 
UNRWA. They knew that UNRWA previously had been supporting Hamas, had 
its employees also be agents of Hamas, that its textbooks glorified 
martyrdom, terrorism, and preached anti-Semitism. Its teachers talked 
about killing Jews. Its schools had stored weapons for Hamas.
  UNRWA sites and facilities have been used to launch attacks on 
Israel. This was not new news. And yet, inexplicably, the Biden 
administration, as soon as they came into office, resumed our funding, 
our taxpayer dollars to UNRWA. Madam President, 730 million U.S. 
taxpayer dollars given to UNRWA.
  And we have since found out now that one of the UNRWA teachers, an 
Arabic language teacher, was a Hamas commander who participated on an 
attack on a kibbutz that killed 97 people and in which 26 people were 
kidnapped.
  We should not fund Hamas, and we should not fund Hamas through UNRWA. 
We need to cut off the funds to UNRWA. The Trump administration saw it. 
And the State Department saying they are going to temporarily pause 
their funding to UNRWA is simply not good enough.
  The junior Senator from South Carolina and me have proposed the Stop 
Support For Hamas. This would end U.S. taxpayer funding to UNRWA and 
stop their support of Hamas.
  This bill must pass, or we have other ways to do it. We can put it 
into any supplemental that we pass that is going to provide aid to 
Gaza. We are currently considering such a bill right now.
  Before we provide another taxpayer dollar, we must pass this 
legislation so that UNRWA cannot continue to support terrorists like 
Hamas. We must stand with our ally Israel. They not only have the right 
to defend themselves, but it will be important for world peace to see 
Hamas destroyed.
  Hamas is a brutal terroristic organization. It has no place in the 
world. We need to provide Israel the tools they need to be able to 
defend themselves and destroy this terrorist organization. And we 
should not act counter to that by providing UNRWA money.
  We must permanently ban our funding to UNRWA so that our taxpayer 
dollars are not supporting the terrorist organization Hamas.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.