[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 24, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H4877-H4881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




JOINT MEETING TO HEAR AN ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY BINYAMIN NETANYAHU, 
                        PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL

  During the recess, the House was called to order by the Speaker at 1 
o'clock and 41 minutes p.m.
  The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms, Ms. Kathleen Joyce, announced 
the Acting President pro tempore, the Honorable Benjamin L. Cardin of 
the State of Maryland, and Members of the U.S. Senate, who entered the 
Hall of the House of Representatives, the Acting President pro tempore 
taking the chair at the left of the Speaker, and the Members of the 
Senate the seats reserved for them.
  The SPEAKER. The joint meeting will come to order.
  The Chair appoints as members of the committee on the part of the 
House to escort His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of 
Israel, into the Chamber:
  The gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise);
  The gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer);
  The gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Stefanik);
  The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler);
  The gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Palmer);
  The gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore);
  The gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain);
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul);
  The gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries);
  The gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Lieu);
  The gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman);
  The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider); and
  The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer).
  The Acting PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Acting President pro tempore of 
the Senate, at the direction of that body, appoints the following 
Senators as members of the committee on the part of the Senate to 
escort His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu into the House Chamber:
  The Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin);
  The Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema);
  The Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman);
  The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell);
  The Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Thune);
  The Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso);
  The Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito);
  The Senator from Iowa (Ms. Ernst);
  The Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines);
  The Senator from Iowa (Mr. Grassley); and
  The Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).
  The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms announced the Dean of the 
Diplomatic Corps, His Excellency Hersey Kyota, the Ambassador of Palau.
  The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps entered the Hall of the House of 
Representatives and took the seat reserved for him.

[[Page H4878]]

  At 2 o'clock and 4 minutes p.m., the Sergeant at Arms, the Honorable 
William P. McFarland, announced His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu.
  The Prime Minister of Israel, escorted by the committee of Senators 
and Representatives, entered the Hall of the House of Representatives 
and stood at the Clerk's desk.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  The SPEAKER. Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and the 
distinct honor of presenting to you His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, 
Prime Minister of Israel.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  Prime Minister NETANYAHU. Speaker of the House   Mike Johnson, 
Senator Ben Cardin, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority 
Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senators, 
Members of Congress, distinguished guests:
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for giving me the profound honor of 
addressing this great citadel of democracy for the fourth time.
  We meet today at a crossroads of history. Our world is in upheaval. 
In the Middle East, Iran's axis of terror confronts America, Israel, 
and our Arab friends.
  This is not a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between barbarism 
and civilization. It is a clash between those who glorify death and 
those who sanctify life.
  For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must 
stand together because when we stand together, something very simple 
happens: We win; they lose. My friends, I came to assure you today of 
one thing: We will win.
  Ladies and gentlemen, like December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, 
October 7 is a day that will forever live in infamy. It was the Jewish 
holiday of Simchat Torah. It began as a perfect day with not a cloud in 
the sky. Thousands of young Israelis were celebrating at an outdoor 
music festival, and, suddenly, at 6:29 a.m., as children were still 
sleeping soundly in their beds in the towns and kibbutzim next to Gaza, 
suddenly, heaven turned into hell. Three thousand Hamas terrorists 
stormed into Israel. They butchered 1,200 people from 41 countries, 
including 39 Americans.
  Proportionately, compared to our population size, that is like 20 9/
11s in 1 day. These monsters raped women, they beheaded men, they 
burned babies alive, and they killed parents in front of their children 
and children in front of their parents. They dragged 255 people, both 
living and dead, into the dark dungeons of Gaza. Israel has already 
brought home 135 of these hostages, including 7 who were freed in 
daring rescue operations.
  One of those freed hostages, Noa Argamani, is here in the gallery 
sitting near my wife, Sara. On the morning of October 7, the entire 
world saw Noa's look of desperation as she was violently abducted to 
Gaza on the back of a motorcycle.
  I met Noa's mother, Liora, a few months ago. She was dying of cancer. 
She said to me: Prime Minister, I have one final wish. I wish to hug my 
daughter, Noa, one last time before I die.
  Two months ago, I authorized a breathtaking commando rescue 
operation. Our special forces, including a heroic officer named Arnon 
Zmora who fell in this battle, rescued Noa and three other hostages.
  I think it is one of the most moving things when Noa was reunited 
with her mother, Liora, and her mother's last wish came true.
  Noa, we are so thrilled to have you with us today. Thank you.
  Many hostage families are also here with us today, including Eli 
Bibas. Eli Bibas is the grandfather of those two beautiful, red-headed 
boys, the Bibas boys. They were toddlers who were taken hostage with 
their mother and Eli's son. The entire family was taken hostage. Two 
beautiful red-haired children were taken hostage. What monsters.
  With us also is Iris Haim, whose son, Yotam, bravely escaped Hamas 
captivity with two other Israelis, and tragically they were killed 
making their way back to our lines.
  We have with us also the families of American hostages. They are 
here. The pain these families have endured is beyond words. I met with 
them again yesterday, and I promised them this: I will not rest until 
all their loved ones are home, all of them.
  As we speak, we are actively engaged in intensive efforts to secure 
their release, and I am confident that these efforts can succeed. Some 
of them are taking place right now.
  I want to thank President Biden for his tireless efforts on behalf of 
the hostages and for his efforts to the hostage families, as well. I 
thank President Biden for his heartfelt support for Israel after the 
savage attack on October 7. He rightly called Hamas sheer evil. He 
dispatched two aircraft carriers to the Middle East to deter a wider 
war, and he came to Israel to stand with us during our darkest hour. It 
was a visit that will never be forgotten.
  President Biden and I have known each other for over 40 years. I want 
to thank him for one-half century of friendship to Israel and for 
being, as he says, ``a proud Zionist.'' Actually, he says he is ``a 
proud Irish-American Zionist.''
  My friends, for more than 9 months, Israel's soldiers have shown 
boundless courage. With us today is Lieutenant Avichail Reuven. 
Avichail Reuven is an officer in the Israeli Paratroopers. His family 
immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia.
  In the early hours of October 7, Avichail heard the news of Hamas' 
bloody rampage. He put on his uniform and grabbed his rifle, but he 
didn't have a car. So he ran 8 miles to the front lines of Gaza to 
defend his people.
  You heard that right. He ran 8 miles, came to the front lines, killed 
many terrorists, and saved many, many lives.
  Avichail, we all honor your remarkable heroism.
  Another Israeli is with us here today, and he is standing--stand up--
right next to Avichail. This is Master Sergeant Ashraf al Bakhiri.
  Ashraf is a veteran soldier from the Israeli Muslim community of 
Rahat. On October 7, Ashraf, too, killed many terrorists. First, he 
defended his comrades in the military base, and he then rushed to 
defend the neighboring communities, including the devastated community 
of Kibbutz Beeri.
  Like Ashraf, the Muslim soldiers of the IDF fought alongside their 
Jewish--Jews, Christian, and other comrades-in-arms with tremendous 
bravery.
  A third hero, Lieutenant Assa Sofer, is also here with us. Assa 
fought as an officer in the tank corps, and he was wounded in battle. 
He was wounded in battle while protecting his fellow soldiers from a 
grenade. He lost his right arm and the vision in his left eye. He is 
recovering, and incredibly, within a short time, Assa will soon return 
to active duty as a commander of a tank company.
  I just learned there is a fourth hero here, Lieutenant Jonathan Ben 
Hamou, who lost a leg in Gaza and continued to fight.
  My friends, these are the soldiers of Israel, unbowed, undaunted, 
unafraid.
  As the Bible says, `` `Am ke-lavi yakum,'' They shall rise like 
lions. They have risen like lions, the lions of Judah, the lions of 
Israel.
  Ladies and gentlemen, the men and women of the IDF come from every 
corner of Israeli society, every ethnicity, every color, every creed, 
left and right, religious and secular. All are imbued with the 
indomitable spirit of the Maccabees, the legendary Jewish warriors of 
antiquity.
  With us today is Yechiel Leiter, the father of one of those 
Maccabees. Yechiel's father escaped the Holocaust and found refuge in 
America. As a young man, Yechiel moved to Israel and raised a family of 
eight children.
  He named his oldest son Moshe, after his late father. Moshe became an 
exemplary officer in one of our elite commando units. He served with 
distinction for two decades while raising six beautiful children of his 
own.
  On October 7, Moshe volunteered to return to combat. Four weeks 
later, he was killed when a booby-trapped mine exploded in a tunnel 
shaft right next to a mosque.
  At his son's funeral, Yechiel said this: If the State of Israel had 
not been established after the Holocaust, the image engraved in our 
collective memory would have been the photograph of that helpless 
Jewish boy in the Warsaw ghetto holding his hands up in the air with 
Nazi rifles pointed at him, but because of the birth of Israel, Yechiel 
continued, because of the courage of

[[Page H4879]]

soldiers like my son, Moshe, the Jewish people are no longer helpless 
in the face of our enemies.
  Yechiel, please rise so we can honor your son's sacrifice, and I 
pledge to you and to all the bereaved families of Israel, some of whom 
are in this hall today: The sacrifice of your loved ones would not be 
in vain.
  It will not be in vain because, for Israel, ``Never Again'' must 
never be an empty promise. It must always remain a sacred vow, and 
after October 7, ``Never Again'' is now.
  My friends, defeating our brutal enemies requires both courage and 
clarity. Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good and 
evil. Yet, incredibly, many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to 
stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and 
murderers. They stand with people who came into the kibbutzim, into a 
home. The parents hid the children, the two babies, in the attic, in a 
secret attic. They murdered the families, the parents. They found the 
secret latch to the hidden attic, and then they murdered the babies.
  These protesters stand with them. They should be ashamed of 
themselves. They refuse to make the simple distinction between those 
who target terrorists and those who target civilians, between the 
democratic State of Israel and the terrorist thugs of Hamas.
  We recently learned from the national security director, the U.S. 
Director of National Intelligence, that Iran is funding and promoting 
anti-Israel protests in America. They want to disrupt America, so these 
protesters burn American flags even on the Fourth of July. And I wish 
to salute the fraternity brothers at the University of North Carolina 
who protected the American flag, protected the American flag against 
these anti-Israel protesters.
  For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are 
going on right now outside this building, not that many, but they are 
there, and throughout the city.
  Well, I have a message for these protesters: When the tyrants of 
Tehran who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering 
their hair are praising, promoting, and funding you, you have 
officially become Iran's useful idiots.
  Some of these protesters--it is amazing, absolutely amazing--some of 
these protesters hold up signs proclaiming: ``Gays for Gaza.'' They 
might as well hold up signs saying: ``Chickens for KFC.''
  These protesters chant ``from the river to the sea,'' but many don't 
have a clue what river and what sea they are talking about. They not 
only get an F in geography; they get an F in history.
  They call Israel a colonialist state. Don't they know that the land 
of Israel is where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prayed; where Isaiah and 
Jeremiah preached; and where David and Solomon ruled.
  For nearly 4,000 years, the land of Israel has been the homeland of 
the Jewish people. It has always been our home. It will always be our 
home.
  It is not only the campus protesters who get it wrong; it is also the 
people who run those campuses. Eighty years after the Holocaust--80 
years after the Holocaust--the presidents of Harvard, Penn, and I am 
ashamed to say my alma mater, MIT, couldn't bring themselves to condemn 
the calls for the genocide of Jews.
  You remember what they said? They said: ``It depends on the 
context.'' Well, let me give these befuddled academics a little 
context. Anti-Semitism is the world's oldest hatred. For centuries, the 
massacre of Jews was always preceded by wild accusations.
  We were accused of everything from poisoning wells, to spreading 
plagues, to using the blood of slaughtered children to bake Passover 
matzos. These preposterous, anti-Semitic lies led to persecution, mass 
murder, and ultimately to history's worst genocide, the Holocaust.
  Now, just as malicious lies were leveled for centuries at the Jewish 
people, malicious lies are now being leveled at the Jewish state. No, 
no. Don't applaud. Listen.
  The outrageous slanders that paint Israel as racist and genocidal are 
meant to delegitimize Israel, to demonize the Jewish state, and to 
demonize Jews everywhere. And no wonder, no wonder we witnessed an 
appalling rise of anti-Semitism in America and around the world.
  My friends, whenever and wherever we see the scourge of anti-
Semitism, we must unequivocally condemn it and resolutely fight it 
without exception.
  And don't be fooled. When the blood libels against the Jewish state 
come from people who wear fancy silk robes and speak in lofty tones 
about law and justice, here is a case in point.
  The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has shamefully 
accused Israel of deliberately starving the people of Gaza. This is 
utter, complete nonsense. It is a complete fabrication.
  Israel has enabled more than 40,000 aid trucks to enter Gaza. That is 
half a million tons of food, and that is more than 3,000 calories for 
every man, woman, and child in Gaza. If there are Palestinians in Gaza 
who aren't getting enough food, it is not because Israel is blocking 
it; it is because Hamas is stealing it. So much for that lie.
  But here is another: The ICC prosecutor accuses Israel of 
deliberately targeting civilians. What in God's green Earth is he 
talking about?
  The IDF has dropped millions of flyers, sent millions of text 
messages, made hundreds of thousands of phone calls to get Palestinian 
civilians out of harm's way, but at the same time, Hamas does 
everything in its power to put Palestinian civilians in harm's way.
  They fire rockets from schools, from hospitals, from mosques. They 
even shoot their own people when they try to leave the war zone. A 
senior Hamas official, Fathi Hammad, boasted--listen to this--he 
boasted that Palestinian women and children excel at being human 
shields, his words. Excel at being human shields. What monstrous evil.
  For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy. For Hamas, it is a 
strategy. They actually want Palestinian civilians to die so that 
Israel will be smeared in the international media and be pressured to 
end the war before it is won. This would enable Hamas to survive 
another day, and as they vowed, to carry out October 7 again, and 
again, and again.
  Well, I want to assure you, no matter what pressure is brought to 
bear, I will never allow that to happen.
  The vast majority of Americans have not fallen for this Hamas 
propaganda. They continue to support Israel. I want to say, thank you, 
America, and thank you, Senators and House Members, who continue to 
support us, continue to support Israel, continue to support the truth, 
and see through the lies.
  But as for the minority that may have fallen for Hamas' con job, I 
suggest you listen to Colonel John Spencer. John Spencer is head of 
urban warfare studies at West Point. He studied every major urban 
conflict--I was going to say in modern history. He corrected me. No, in 
history.
  Israel, he said, has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian 
harm than any military in history and beyond what international law 
requires.
  That is why, despite all the lies you have heard, the war in Gaza has 
one of the lowest ratios of combatants to noncombatants casualties in 
the history of urban warfare.
  And you want to know where it is lowest in Gaza? It is lowest in 
Rafah. In Rafah. Remember what so many people said? If Israel goes into 
Rafah, there will be thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of 
civilians killed.
  Well, last week I went into Rafah. I visited our troops as they 
finished fighting Hamas' remaining terrorist battalions. I asked the 
commander there: How many terrorists did you take out in Rafah? He gave 
me an exact number: 1,203.
  I asked him: How many civilians were killed? He said: Prime Minister, 
practically none. With the exception of a single incident where 
shrapnel from a bomb hit a Hamas weapons depot and unintentionally 
killed two dozen people, the answer is: practically none.
  You want to know why? Because Israel got the civilians out of harm's 
way--something people said we could never do, but we did it.
  These heroes here today, the heroic soldiers of Israel, should not be 
condemned for how they are conducting the war in Gaza. They should be 
commended for it.
  I want to thank all of you here today who forcefully opposed the 
false accusations of the ICC and stood up for the

[[Page H4880]]

truth. These lies are not only libelous, they are downright dangerous.
  The ICC is trying to shackle Israel's hands and prevent us from 
defending ourselves. And if Israel's hands are tied, America is next.
  I will tell you what else is next. The ability of all democracies to 
fight terrorism will be imperiled. That is what is on the line. So let 
me assure you. The hands of the Jewish state will never be shackled. 
Israel will always defend itself.
  My friends in the Middle East, Iran is virtually behind all the 
terrorism, all the turmoil, all the chaos, all the killing, and that 
should come as no surprise.
  When he founded the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini pledged: We 
will export our revolution to the entire world. We will export the 
Islamic revolution to the entire world.
  Now, ask yourself: Which country ultimately stands in the way of 
Iran's maniacal plans to impose radical Islam on the world?
  And the answer is clear. It is America, the guardian of Western 
civilization and the world's greatest power. That is why Iran sees 
America as its greatest enemy.
  Last month I heard a revealing comment, ostensibly, about the war in 
Gaza, but about something else. It came from the foreign minister of 
Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, and he said this: This is not a war with 
Israel. Israel, he said, is merely a tool. The main war, the real war, 
is with America.
  Iran's regime has been fighting America from the moment it came to 
power. In 1979, it stormed the American Embassy. It held scores of 
Americans hostage for 444 days.
  Since then, Iran's terrorist proxies have targeted America in the 
Middle East and beyond. In Beirut, they killed 241 U.S. servicemen. In 
Africa, they bombed American Embassies. In Iraq, they supplied 
explosives to maim and kill thousands of American soldiers.
  In America, in America, they actually sent death squads. They sent 
death squads here to murder a former Secretary of State and a former 
National Security Advisor. And as we recently learned, they even 
brazenly threatened to assassinate President Trump.
  But Iran understands that to truly challenge America, it must first 
conquer the Middle East. And for this, it uses its many proxies, 
including the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
  Yet, in the heart of the Middle East, standing in Iran's way, is one 
proud, pro-American democracy, my country, the State of Israel.
  That is why the mobs in Tehran chant ``death to Israel'' before they 
chant ``death to America.'' For Iran, Israel is first. America is next.
  So when Israel fights Hamas, we are fighting Iran. When we fight 
Hezbollah, we are fighting Iran. When we fight the Houthis, we are 
fighting Iran.
  And when we fight Iran, we are fighting the most radical and 
murderous enemy of the United States of America.
  And one more thing. When Israel acts to prevent Iran from developing 
nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons that could destroy Israel and threaten 
every American city, every city that you come from, we are not only 
protecting ourselves, we are protecting you.
  My friends, if you remember one thing, one thing from the speech, 
remember this: Our enemies are your enemies. Our fight is your fight, 
and our victory will be your victory.

  Ladies and gentlemen, that victory is in sight. Israel's defeat of 
Hamas will be a powerful blow to Iran's axis of terror.
  Another part of that axis, Hezbollah, attacked Israel on October 8, a 
day after the Hamas attack. It has launched thousands of missiles and 
drones against us.
  Eighty thousand of our citizens in northern Israel evacuated their 
homes, becoming effectively refugees in their own land. We are 
committed to returning them home.
  We prefer to achieve this diplomatically, but let me be clear: Israel 
will do whatever it must do to restore security to our northern border 
and return our people safely to their homes.
  Last Friday, a third Iranian proxy, the Houthis, attacked Tel Aviv 
with a deadly drone. It exploded a few hundred feet from the American 
consulate, killing one person and injuring nine. On Saturday, I 
authorized a swift response to that attack.
  All our enemies should know this: Those who attack Israel will pay a 
very heavy price. And as we defend ourselves, on all fronts, I know 
that America has our back, and I thank you for it, all sides of the 
aisle. Thank you.
  My friends, for decades, America has provided Israel with generous 
military assistance, and a grateful Israel has provided America with 
critical intelligence that saved many lives.
  We have jointly developed some of the most sophisticated weapons on 
Earth. I choose my words carefully. We have jointly developed some of 
the most sophisticated weapons on Earth that help protect both our 
countries, and we also help keep Americans' boots off the ground, while 
protecting our shared interests in the Middle East.
  I deeply appreciate America's support, including in this current war, 
but this is an exceptional moment. Fast-tracking U.S. military aid can 
dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a 
broader war in the Middle East.
  In World War II, as Britain fought on the front lines of 
civilization, Winston Churchill appealed to Americans with these famous 
words: ``Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.''
  Today, as Israel fights on the front line of civilization, I, too, 
appeal to America. Give us the tools faster, and we will finish the job 
faster.
  My dear friends, the war in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas 
surrenders, disarms, and returns all the hostages. But if they don't, 
Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas' military capabilities, end 
its rule in Gaza, and bring all our hostages home.
  That is what total victory means, and we will settle for nothing 
less. The day after we defeat Hamas, a new Gaza could emerge. My vision 
for that day is of a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza. Israel does 
not seek to resettle Gaza, but for the foreseeable future, we must 
retain overriding security control there to prevent the resurgence of 
terror to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.
  Gaza should have a civilian administration run by Palestinians who do 
not seek to destroy Israel. That is not too much to ask. It is a 
fundamental thing that we have a right to demand and to receive. A new 
generation of Palestinians must no longer be taught to hate Jews but, 
rather, to live in peace with us.
  Those twin words, ``demilitarization and deradicalization,'' those 
two concepts were applied to Germany and Japan after World War II, and 
that led to decades of peace, prosperity, and security.
  Following our victory, with the help of regional partners, the 
demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza can also lead to a future 
of security, prosperity, and peace. That is my vision for Gaza.
  Now, here is my vision for the broader Middle East. It is also shaped 
in part by what we saw in the aftermath of World War II. After that 
war, America forged a security alliance in Europe to counter the 
growing Soviet threat.
  Likewise, America and Israel today can forge a security alliance in 
the Middle East to counter the growing Iranian threat. All countries 
that are at peace with Israel and all those countries who will make 
peace with Israel should be invited to join this alliance.
  We saw a glimpse of that potential alliance on April 14. Led by the 
United States, more than half a dozen nations worked alongside Israel 
to help neutralize hundreds of missiles and drones launched by Iran 
against us.
  Thank you, President Biden, for bringing that coalition together.
  The new alliance I envision would be a natural extension of the 
groundbreaking Abraham Accords. Those accords saw peace forged between 
Israel and four Arab countries, and they were supported by Republicans 
and Democrats alike. We could call--I have a name for this new 
alliance. I think we should call it the Abraham alliance.
  I want to thank President Trump for his leadership in brokering the 
historic Abraham Accords. Like Americans, Israelis were relieved that 
President Trump emerged safe and sound from that dastardly attack on 
him, dastardly attack on American democracy. There is no room for 
political violence in democracies.
  I also want to thank President Trump for all the things he did for 
Israel, from recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights to

[[Page H4881]]

confronting Iran's aggression to recognizing Jerusalem as our capital 
and moving the American Embassy there. That is Jerusalem, our eternal 
capital, never to be divided again.
  My dear friends, Democrats and Republicans, despite these times of 
upheaval, I am hopeful about the future. I am hopeful about Israel 
because my people, the Jewish people, emerged from the depths of hell, 
from dispossession and genocide, and against all odds, we restored our 
sovereignty in our ancient homeland. We built a powerful and vibrant 
democracy, a democracy that pushes the boundaries of innovation for the 
betterment of all humanity.
  I am hopeful about America because I am hopeful about Americans. I 
know how much the people of this country have sacrificed to defend 
freedom.
  America will continue to be a force for light and good in a dark and 
dangerous world. For free peoples everywhere, America remains the 
beacon of liberty its extraordinary Founders envisioned back in 1776.
  Working together, I am confident that our two Nations will vanquish 
the tyrants and terrorists who threaten us both.
  As Israel's Prime Minister, I promise you this: No matter how long it 
takes, no matter how difficult the road ahead, Israel will not relent. 
Israel will not bend. We will defend our land. We will defend our 
people. We will fight until we achieve victory, victory over liberty--
rather, victory of liberty over tyranny, victory of life over death, 
victory of good over evil. That is our solemn commitment.
  We will continue to work with the United States and our Arab partners 
to transform our troubled region from a backwater of oppression, 
poverty, and war into a thriving oasis of dignity, prosperity, and 
peace.
  In this noble mission, as in many others, Israel will always remain 
America's indispensable ally.
  Through thick and thin and in good times and in bad, Israel will 
always be your loyal friend and your steadfast partner.
  On behalf of the people of Israel, I came here today to say: Thank 
you, America. Thank you for your support and solidarity. Thank you for 
standing with Israel in our hour of need. Together, we shall defend our 
common civilization. Together, we shall secure a brilliant future for 
both our nations.
  May God bless Israel, may God bless America, and may God bless the 
great alliance between Israel and America forever.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  At 3 o'clock and 5 minutes p.m., His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, 
Prime Minister of Israel, accompanied by the committee of escort, 
retired from the Hall of the House of Representatives.
  The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms escorted the Dean of the 
Diplomatic Corps from the Chamber.

                          ____________________