[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3098-S3099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Israel

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I spoke yesterday about the failures of 
America's so-called elite universities to maintain academic rigor, 
student safety, and basic order as their faculty and students become 
more radicalized.
  The most alarming aspect of this chaos on campuses is the brazen 
expressions of anti-Semitism, but the world's oldest form of hate isn't 
just driving self-appointed student commissars to intimidate Jewish 
students and grind campus life to a halt. Half a world away, deep and 
virulent hatred of the Jewish people and a refusal to even acknowledge 
the Jewish State of Israel's right to exist is what animates the 
world's most active state sponsor of terrorism and motivates its 
network of proxies to carry out barbaric violence like the attacks of 
October 7.
  We are not talking about imagined sins of some postmodern, anti-
colonial theory. We are talking about the intentional--intentional--
torture, hostage-taking, rape, and murder of civilians. And these same 
forces also loathe Israel's closest ally, the United States--the 
``Great Satan.'' They attack American personnel. They threaten American 
interests and global commerce.
  But just as college administrators fail to restore order amid anti-
Semitic chaos on campus, the Biden administration is failing to compel 
a murderous adversary to stop spilling Israeli and American blood 
alike. Rather than helping Israel destroy the terrorists or impose 
consequences on Tehran sufficient to abandon its strategy of terror, 
the Commander in Chief seems to be most concerned with restraining our 
closest ally in the Middle East from doing everything necessary to 
restore its security.
  At nearly every step, the Biden administration has tried to prevent, 
slow, or micromanage Israel's efforts to pursue Hamas terrorists. It is 
as if the President wants the appearance of calm and a respite from 
inconvenient headlines rather than a decisive victory over terrorists 
that can lead to a just and lasting peace.
  The micromanagement is accompanied by flights of pure fantasy. It is 
all well and good for administration officials to express hope for the 
prospects of a future two-state solution, but it is about time they 
started dealing in the present day, where the dominant power on the 
Palestinian side doesn't even want one. Hamas makes no secret of its 
aspirations to destroy Israel ``from the river to the sea.'' And, 
remember, geographically, that means the entirety of the Jewish State.
  Neither, sadly, do the thousands of American college students who 
have taken up this genocidal refrain. Whether these campus agitators 
even grasp its implication is really beside the point. Hamas and its 
backers in Tehran know the score.

  Let's deal in the real world, where successive, corrupt Palestinian 
leaders have rejected reasonable proposals for peaceful coexistence and 
where cease-fire was the nominal state of affairs before savage 
terrorists exploited it on October 7.
  To the extent that a Palestinian state is achievable or even merited, 
it will not be as a reward for terror. If Palestinian leaders want a 
state for their people, they should first demonstrate that they care 
more about their own people than lining their own pockets. They must 
rid themselves of terrorists who care more about killing Jews than 
building a tolerant society.
  Bottom line: If the Biden administration wants to put Israelis and 
Palestinians back on a path toward peaceful coexistence, they ought to 
help Israel destroy Hamas and curb Iran's influence in the region. That 
would require--for one thing--the United States getting serious about 
the operational challenges our ally faces. Instead, the administration 
seems focused on virtue signaling and political theatre to appease the 
leftist agitators of their base.
  How else should we interpret the President's decision to build a 
massively expensive floating pier off the coast of Gaza or his 
willingness to staff it with American military personnel within cruise 
missile and UAV range of terrorists who have specifically--
specifically--threatened to target any forces affiliated with the pier?
  This isn't just an idle threat. Terrorists have already conducted 
mortar attacks against the marshaling area for the humanitarian pier. 
This isn't a cost-free State of the Union talking point; it is an 
avoidable catastrophe. The President's decision places American 
servicemembers at unnecessary risk. It is exorbitantly more expensive 
and inefficient than existing land crossings into Gaza. And besides, 
the problem isn't getting humanitarian assistance to Gaza; it is 
getting the assistance distributed to Palestinian civilians before 
Hamas fighters commandeer it.
  What more evidence do we need that Hamas can play no part--no part--
in the future of the Palestinian people? What other signs do we need 
that Israel's fight to eliminate the terrorists deserves America's 
support? Let's be clear: We cannot aim for the status quo ante. October 
7 was only the most recent bloody manifestation of the reach of Iran's 
proxy network.
  America's focus--our primary objective--in support of our ally Israel 
and our interests in the region has to be imposing real costs on the 
chaos agents in Tehran, forcing them to change their violent calculus, 
ending their support for terror, and making it harder for them to 
support other violent aggression further afield, like Russia's war in 
Ukraine.
  Of course, all of that starts with making serious investments in our 
own defense. U.S. operations in defense of Israel and the freedom of 
navigation have made the steep costs of preserving peace and prosperity 
abundantly clear. The past several months have illustrated the 
undeniable urgency of expanding production of missile defense

[[Page S3099]]

capabilities, long-range strike capabilities, and the full range of 
hard power necessary to change our adversaries' behavior.
  It is time for the administration and Congress to step up and put our 
money where our mouth is.