[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 23, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5170-S5172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Israel

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the state of the war

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between Israel and Hamas. Tomorrow, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin 
Netanyahu will speak before a joint session of Congress. I hope he will 
propose a significant change in his approach to the war. I hope he will 
offer his resounding thanks to President Biden for his steadfast 
support of the defense of Israel. I hope he will thank this 
Democratically led Senate, the majority leader, and our Republican 
colleagues for our early support of the supplemental appropriations 
bill that provided billions of dollars to strengthen Israel's defenses 
and provide humanitarian support to Gaza.
  It has been more than 9 months since Hamas carried out its horrific 
attack against the Israeli people. Hamas terrorists killed more than 
1,200 men, women, and children, and took 250 hostages. Unspeakable acts 
of terror were committed on October 7, and they will never be 
forgotten.
  In the wake of this attack, the United States has stood resolutely by 
Israel's side, providing billions of dollars of aid and intervening to 
shield Israel from attack by Iran and its proxies.
  For more than 75 years, Israel has been one of our closest allies. 
Since its founding, Israel has relied on America's friendship, and we 
have been proud to give it. It is because of this friendship, not in 
spite of it, that we must insist the Israeli Government change course 
in its war against Hamas. Israel's leaders must refocus their efforts 
to peace, stability, and the core tenets of Israel's democracy.
  Several months ago, I came to the Senate floor as chairman of the 
Senate Armed Services Committee and as a friend and longtime supporter 
of the Israeli people to say that the war had veered off course. I 
urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to learn from the United States' lessons 
in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I urged him to develop a realistic long-
term plan for Gaza, including a framework for a two-state solution. 
Instead, Prime Minister Netanyahu has not just ignored the guidance of 
Israel's friends and allies, he has doubled down on his worst instincts 
and the dangerous ambitions of the most extreme elements of his 
coalition government.
  The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Gaza is a tiny enclave, but it 
is home to more than 2 million people who have been living in a war 
zone for 9 months. Tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians have been 
killed. Nearly half a million Gazans are facing life-threatening food 
insecurity. Efforts to increase humanitarian assistance have fallen far 
short.
  Mr. Netanyahu and his government have failed to develop an exit 
strategy for Gaza. They have no plan for a sustainable future for the 
Palestinians and no plan to establish security and rebuild Gaza's 
destroyed cities.
  Even more alarming, Israel now faces the threat of a second front on 
its northern border with Lebanon. Hezbollah--better trained and better 
armed than Hamas--continues to clash with the IDF, threatening all-out 
war. At the same time, violence in the West Bank could boil over at any 
moment, which could spark wider regional conflict.
  As I said in March, I believe that good allies and good friends stand 
together, but great allies and great friends are willing to speak hard 
truths and hold each other to the highest standards, especially around 
the conduct of war.
  With Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington this week, I am again 
compelled to say that the Israeli Government must change its path. 
There are three specific issues that the Israeli Government must 
address if it hopes to secure lasting peace. First, it must change its 
strategy in Gaza from a counterterrorism operation to a 
counterinsurgency campaign. Second, Israel must wrest control of its 
government back from the far-right extremists who have seized power. 
Third, Israeli leaders have to recognize that a two-state solution is 
the only viable path for peace and stability for the Israeli people.
  To start, we have to acknowledge that Prime Minister Netanyahu lost 
his way in leading Israel's war against Hamas. He appears unwilling or 
unable to understand that his military strategy cannot destroy a group 
like Hamas. He continues to drive a costly, high-tempo counterterrorism 
campaign when he should be pursuing a counterinsurgency campaign.
  The differences between these two strategies are important. A 
counterterrorism operation, like the one the IDF is carrying out, is 
about applying military power to crush terrorist fighters and prevent 
attacks.
  Certainly, Israel has degraded much of Hamas's military power. U.S. 
analysts have judged that Hamas no longer has the capabilities to carry 
out another attack like October 7. But Hamas is not just a terrorist 
group; it is an ideology and a political organization with deep roots. 
Political ideologies like Hamas cannot be bombed into submission.
  Instead, Mr. Netanyahu must shift to a counterinsurgency strategy. 
Counterinsurgency campaigns seek to address the root cause of the 
insurgency and strive to win the support of the local population, while 
building legitimacy for a responsible government. Israel's objective 
should be to weaken Hamas's support among Palestinians and ultimately 
isolate it from political and military lifelines.
  But in times of trauma, every nation's first reaction is fear and 
anger. Much like Israel's horror on October 7, the United States 
experienced a deep national trauma on September 11, 2001. We, too, 
responded militarily, but it took us far too long to learn that a 
sustainable peace cannot be won solely on the battlefield. The best 
armies in the world cannot defeat a terrorist ideology.
  Nine months into Israel's war against Hamas, it is clear that there 
is no way to wipe out the Hamas ideology through military might alone. 
This is not just my opinion. Current and former Israeli political and 
military leaders, including members of Mr. Netanyahu's own Cabinet, 
have warned that Israel's current strategy is not viable for long-term 
victory.
  Last month, the chief Israeli military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel 
Hagari, said:

       Those who think they could make Hamas disappear are wrong. 
     Hamas is a political party. It is rooted in people's hearts.

  It was because of this strategic failure that Benny Gantz, a former 
Israeli army general, Defense Minister, and member of Netanyahu's war 
cabinet, announced his resignation last month. He argued for months 
that Israel needed to fundamentally change its approach to the war, but 
Netanyahu could not be reasoned with.
  I agree with Mr. Gantz on this issue. Prime Minister Netanyahu's 
conduct of the war has backfired strategically. Hamas wants to keep 
Israel in a state of perpetual war, and Netanyahu has fallen into that 
trap. His government must shift from a counterterrorism strategy to a 
counterinsurgency strategy.
  Much of Mr. Netanyahu's intransigence may be attributed to the 
political allies he surrounds himself with. As a way to cling to power, 
Netanyahu has made common cause with far-right extremists who pursue 
their own agendas at the expense of Israel's security. These extremists 
have been elevated to some of the highest Cabinet positions of the 
government and have encouraged Netanyahu's most misguided policies, 
including his attempts at changes to the Israeli judicial system.
  One of these figures is Itamar Ben-Gvir. As a convicted terrorist, 
Ben-Gvir was deemed too extreme to serve in the Israeli military. 
Nonetheless, in order to secure his coalition, Prime Minister Netanyahu 
placed Ben-Gvir in charge of the Ministry of National Security, which 
oversees the Israeli National Police.
  Ben-Gvir has openly advanced his desire for the ethnic cleansing of 
Palestinians, including in Gaza. He has advocated for the settlement of 
Israelis in Gaza after the war and has organized a campaign to hand out 
assault rifles to Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
  Importantly, Ben-Gvir has threatened to topple the governing 
coalition if his radical demands are not met. In particular, he has 
pressured Mr. Netanyahu to reject a hostage deal or cease-fire with 
Hamas that would include the release of Palestinian prisoners. Ben-
Gvir's extreme agenda is eroding Israel's stability and adherence to 
the rule of law.
  Another Cabinet Minister is Minister Smotrich, a notorious, radical 
settler activist with a troubling record. As Netanyahu's Minister of 
Finance and Adjunct Minister in the Ministry of Defense, Smotrich 
leverages his official

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power to advance his agenda of annexing the West Bank for Jewish 
settlers and evicting Palestinians from the area. With Prime Minister 
Netanyahu's implicit support, Smotrich has steadily shifted control of 
administering the West Bank to his handpicked cronies in the Defense 
Ministry.
  The Israeli activist group Peace Now has assessed that 2024 has been 
the ``peak year'' for Israeli land seizures in the West Bank.
  As Finance Minister, Smotrich has abused his power by freezing 
distribution of Palestinian tax revenues as leverage to force the 
annexation of Jewish settlements. These tax revenues constitute almost 
all of the Palestinian Authority's budget, including its police and 
security personnel.
  Earlier this month, Smotrich released some funding back to the 
Palestinian Authority in exchange for the authorization of five Israeli 
settlements that had been built illegally. This is extortion, plain and 
simple, and it has been condemned by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet 
Yellen and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
  I highlight these far-right Cabinet leaders because their extreme 
personal and political agendas are impacting the government's military 
decisions in Gaza, whether through threats or cajoling, Ben-Gvir, 
Smotrich, and others have pushed the government into prosecuting the 
war and governing Israel the way they see fit.
  In announcing his resignation last month, Mr. Gantz told the press 
that he had ``become exasperated with Netanyahu for agreeing on one 
thing in the wartime cabinet and then doing the opposite because of 
pressure from his far-right coalition partners.'' In his resignation 
speech, Gantz lamented that ``faithful, faithful strategic decisions 
are met with hesitation and procrastination due to political 
considerations. Unfortunately, Netanyahu prevents us from progressing 
to real victory.''
  These dynamics caused former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud 
Barak to publicly warn that ``[this war] appears to be the least 
successful war in history due to the strategic paralysis in the 
country's leadership.''
  Prime Minister Netanyahu is beholden to the far right. He needs his 
rightwing partners to stay in his coalition, and in turn, they cannot 
abandon him because he is their best chance to accomplish the 
objectives of their nationalist agenda.
  Until there is a change in the direction of Israel's leadership, the 
far right will continue to drive Israel's security and the war in Gaza 
into the ground.
  The failings of the Netanyahu government are not just a matter of bad 
strategy or the Prime Minister's willingness to rely on radical 
political partners to stay in power, it is also his own opposition to a 
two-state solution. As has been clear for decades, Prime Minister 
Netanyahu is unwilling to recognize that a two-state solution is the 
only viable path to peace and security for Israel. He has been 
thwarting this option since his first term as Prime Minister in 1996.
  One of Mr. Netanyahu's most reliable assets for preventing a two-
state solution has been Hamas. As far back as 2012, Netanyahu told 
Israeli press that ``it was important to keep Hamas strong, as a 
counterweight to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.'' He knew 
that by empowering Hamas in Gaza, a two-state solution would never be 
possible. In fact, between 2012 and 2018 alone, Netanyahu allowed an 
estimated $1 billion to flow into Gaza, at least half of which reached 
Hamas.
  According to the Jerusalem Post, in a private meeting with members of 
the Likud Party in 2019, Netanyahu explained his rationale as this:

       The money transfer is part of the strategy to divide the 
     Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. . . . In that way, we 
     will foil the establishment of a Palestinian state.

  This open hostility to a two-state solution has only hardened in the 
aftermath of October 7. In February, Netanyahu bragged:

       Everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked 
     the establishment of a Palestinian State that would endanger 
     our existence.

  And in just the last week, he led the Knesset in passing resolution 
that rejects a two-state solution.
  Mr. Netanyahu has never been shy about his desire to prevent a two-
state solution. His record is now clear beyond a shadow of a doubt. We 
should not be surprised that he continues to stand in the way of peace.
  With this troubling record laid out, I feel compelled again, as a 
friend of Israel, to say that Prime Minister Netanyahu has put Israel 
on a disastrous path. His leadership is eroding Israel's security, 
health, and democracy.
  In March, I came to the floor to call for new leadership for both the 
Israeli and Palestinian people. I stand by that call. Ultimately, these 
are decisions for the Israelis and the Palestinian people.
  But while Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to lead his nation, I 
urge him to return to the cease-fire framework he agreed to in May with 
the Biden administration. This plan includes a sensible and phased 
approach to bring the hostages home, increasing lifesaving humanitarian 
assistance to Gaza, and a realistic approach to day-to-day security and 
governance in Gaza.
  Israel will not find the long-term security and peace it wants by 
indefinitely reoccupying the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Prime 
Minister, working with the United States and other regional allies and 
partners, must achieve a diplomatic solution on the Israeli-Lebanon 
border. Now is not the time to risk opening a second, potentially more 
dangerous, confrontation with Hezbollah that could spill over into a 
larger regional war.
  Further, Mr. Netanyahu should immediately disavow the far-right 
members of his Cabinet and stop their efforts to inflame violence in 
Gaza and the West Bank that is making a two-state solution all but 
impossible.
  Finally, President Netanyahu must accept the legitimacy of a two-
state solution, where the State of Israel and a demilitarized 
Palestinian State can exist side by side in peace and security. This 
plan is difficult and will require a buy-in from Israel, the 
Palestinian people, Arab neighbors, and the international community, 
but it is necessary and essential. The inability to embrace a two-state 
solution has profound consequences for the State of Israel, its 
security, its standing in the world, and its ability to remain a 
democracy.
  As I prepare to join my colleagues in listening to Prime Minister 
Netanyahu's address tomorrow, I remain deeply skeptical of his 
leadership and willingness to change course, but I hope he will finally 
listen to his friends and allies who only want the best for Israel.
  The United States is Israel's oldest friend. But as a friend, we must 
insist that Prime Minister Netanyahu fundamentally change the path he 
has put his country on. The eyes of the world and history are upon it.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.