[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2654-S2655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Israel

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, while the Senate was away from 
Washington, we received some sobering reminders about the challenges 
facing America and our friends in a dangerous world and about how to 
meet them.
  In Gaza, innocent people continue to suffer with the cowardice and 
hateful violence of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
  Just last week, as Israel continued the difficult, necessary, and 
existential work of eliminating the terrorist threat, the tragic 
consequences of this war were brought once again into focus. The 
misidentification that led to

[[Page S2655]]

the deaths of seven aid workers in an IDF strike was a gut-wrenching 
reminder that even when a sovereign nation exercises the utmost 
restraint in the face of enemies to use violence as a first resort, 
even as our ally Israel takes great pains to minimize casualties among 
the innocent civilians who its enemies exploit at every turn, war is 
still hell. And for people in Gaza over the past 17 years since Hamas 
seized control, life has been its own sort of hell as well.
  For years, the supposed authorities in the enclave have spent their 
time burrowing under the homes and mosques of innocent families and the 
schools of innocent children. They have used concrete and building 
supplies intended for civilians to build military bunkers instead. They 
have brazenly stolen the humanitarian aid their civilian subjects 
depend on. They have thrown Palestinians loyal to the political rivals 
off of buildings, and they have continually traded innocent lives for 
one more day to wage a war on Israel.
  Iran's terrorist proxies in Gaza are responsible for the horrors of 
this war. Their hatred for Jews--and refusal to acknowledge the 
existence of the Jewish State of Israel--is the reason for this pain 
and suffering of the last 6 months.
  America cannot afford to lose moral clarity about the conflict. But I 
am afraid that too many of our leaders are. President Biden expressed 
outrage at last week's deadly accident--an event his own administration 
acknowledges was a tragic accident--which begs the question of whether 
he is also outraged at the way Israel's terrorist aggressors violate 
international law by turning hospitals and schools into fighting 
positions.
  Instead of welcoming Israel's swift investigation and efforts to hold 
personnel accountable for their mistakes--accountability that has been 
sorely lacking during President Biden's own administration--the 
President caved further to domestic political pressure.
  He indulged his radical base and called for an immediate cease-fire. 
He embraced an alternate reality in which cease-fire wasn't exactly the 
state of play that Hamas exploited on October 7. A fantasy world in 
which leaving Hamas intact doesn't lead to further terrorism against 
Israelis and Palestinians alike. Unfortunately, the Democratic party 
has become unmoored from a long tradition of bipartisan support for 
Israel.
  According to one headline this week:

       Democrats fear Netanyahu may have undermined Biden's image 
     among voters.

  Apparently, the leftwing activists who can't seem to distinguish 
between terrorism and self-defense aren't just calling the shots at the 
White House but also on the President's reelection campaign. They don't 
seem to care that it isn't just a sovereign ally's leader they disagree 
with, but the overwhelming majority of Israeli public who believe Hamas 
must be defeated.
  Meanwhile, President Biden is reportedly taking a cue from the odious 
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and considering labeling 
goods from Israel's settlement communities in order to ramp up the 
pressure on the Israeli Government.
  Of course, this sounds like child's play alongside the claim of one 
of our own Senate colleagues made just yesterday, that on legal 
grounds, Israel's campaign against Hamas is genocide.
  What on earth should other friends of America think when they see the 
way we treat allies under attack? How should they square the Biden 
administration's pledge to support Ukraine's defense ``as long as it 
takes'' with support for Israel that is, apparently, as soft as the 
will of the most radical elements of the Democratic Party?
  This cannot be the message America sends to the world. Leadership 
means standing up for America's interests--from the Indo-Pacific to 
Europe to the Middle East--even when the most active members of one's 
political base aren't willing to.
  Right now, Congress has an opportunity to model this obligation for a 
President who clearly doesn't understand it. The House has an 
opportunity to pass the national security supplemental, and America has 
an opportunity to show our allies and partners that they can count on 
our support and show our adversaries that they can count on our 
relentless intention.