[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S457-S458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, this week, we observe International
Holocaust Remembrance Day. We honor the 6 million Jews whose lives were
lost during the Holocaust, their families, and the scar that has left
on the world. The term ``We will never forget'' still rings eight
decades later.
The end of that atrocity did not bring the end of anti-Semitism,
unfortunately. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists brutally attacked
Israel with the intent to wipe Israel off the map. Hamas killed 1,200
people simply because they were Jewish.
People marched in the streets even in sections of America and on
university campuses, screaming ``from the river to the sea,'' meaning
the obliteration of the Jewish people and the Jewish nation.
A few months ago, I stood at the Nova Music Festival site, literally
within sight of Gaza. I walked through that area with a family. I
talked to one of the survivors who was there that day. She is still
reliving the emotion of being there, just doing an all-night music
festival. As the Sun came up, terrorists came in to kill as many people
as possible at that music festival.
In the immediate aftermath of that attack, it was clarifying for the
United States that we needed to continue to stand with Israel.
Terrorism is not done. Anti-Semitism has not ended in the world. We
should continue to speak out.
In my State of Oklahoma, it is extremely personal. We have a lot of
Oklahomans who are very pro-Israel because they love freedom and they
love a functioning democracy. With Israel being the only democracy in
all of the Middle East and having a thriving economy, we have a lot of
economic connections to Israel. We have a lot of family connections. We
have a lot of individuals who travel to Israel for both vacation and
for moments to be able to reflect on their own faith. It is a common
connection.
In fact, after October 7, my office and I were personally connected
with trying to be able to help some families and individuals who were
touring in Israel at that time find a way to be able to escape from the
fighting and to be able to get out.
This is a very, very difficult moment, and it continues to be a very
difficult moment for the people of Israel because all they want to do
is to be able to live in peace with the people around them.
Within days, Israel is not just facing a war with Gaza, Hezbollah
began to attack them from the north from Lebanon. The Houthis began to
fire missiles at them from the south. And then within a few months,
Iran itself began to fire missiles and rockets and one-way attack
drones toward Israel, literally facing a war with individuals attacking
them from the north, south, east, and west. Israel just wants to live
in peace.
In the middle of a war, when a group of terrorists crossed the border
and began to slaughter Israelis, the International Criminal Court
determined it was going to jump in and make a clear statement. Great.
Make a clear statement about terrorism. Call out those who are
attacking civilians and slaughtering people as they sleep on that
morning.
But instead, the International Criminal Court released arrest
warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and for
Yoav Gallant, the now former Defense Minister, for trying to defend
their country from terrorism.
Myself and my other colleagues remembered immediately that during the
war in Afghanistan, this same International Criminal Court was filing
charges against American soldiers trying to defend the United States
while they were fighting in Afghanistan. This is the very definition of
a rogue court.
By the way, they are in the process of trying to be able to figure
out how to be able to fix their image. So just within the past few
days, the International Criminal Court has filed an arrest warrant for
some of the Taliban leaders. Welcome to the 2000s. The International
Criminal Court has now figured out that the Taliban are back, something
the rest of the world has known and recognized for more than two
decades.
This body had the opportunity to do something pretty common sense:
Speak out and say we are not a party to the International Criminal
Court. The United States has never participated in that. In fact, no
President has ever even requested--Republican or Democrat--to join that
agreement for the International Criminal Court. No one wants to be a
part of that in the United States. I know of no Oklahoman who would say
we want our troops to be under the authority of an international court.
We are not going to do that.
Israel, by the way, has also not joined the International Criminal
Court. They have no desire to also be under the authority of a foreign
court. They have seen full well the U.N. anti-Semitism, and they have
no interest to the international bodies trying to be able to tell them
right from wrong, so they are not a party to it either. But the
International Criminal Court has seen fit to be able to challenge and
try to call out American soldiers and to be able to call out the
leaders of Israel, even after they have been attacked.
So this body in the U.S. Senate had an opportunity yesterday to be
able to speak out on that and to actually sanction and to allow further
sanctions of individuals from the International Criminal Court and
entities that cooperate with them to say you cannot come after the
United States or after our allies.
It is a very simple, straightforward bill. It is a bill that passed
with a very large bipartisan majority through the House of
Representatives. In fact, it has passed twice now with a large
bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives. But when it came
here to the U.S. Senate, my Democratic colleagues shrugged and said no.
[[Page S458]]
The Trump administration, I am confident, will speak out with
sanctions against the International Criminal Court. They did during the
first Trump Presidency. I am confident they will again. What I am not
confident of is every future President after President Trump, if they
will hold the same high standard to be able to protect American
citizens, our soldiers, and to be able to stand alongside with Israel.
I have come to this body over and over and over again, and I have
said we should speak out in these areas. We should speak out against
anti-Semitism. For instance, the International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance, that definition of what anti-Semitism is, that is a
definition the United States was a party to more than three decades
ago. Our State Department so recognizes what it means to be anti-
Semitic and makes it very clear on that. But this body has failed to
actually impose that same definition of anti-Semitism in our Department
of Justice--for instance, the FBI--or the Department of Education.
Some may say, well, why is that even an issue? Well, ask the Jewish
students at Columbia University, and they will tell you why that is
important. This week, at Columbia University, masked students burst
into a modern history of Israel class chanting anti-Semitic tropes and
calling out to crush Zionism, in their class at Columbia University
this week, during Holocaust Remembrance Week.
I think having a clear definition of what anti-Semitism is and
calling out universities that would allow that kind of oppression on
their own students, I think, is important. I think for this body to be
able to speak out with one voice to say we are not going to allow
American soldiers nor our allies to be called in by a kangaroo
international court, I think, is important to us.
And this week, of all weeks, on Holocaust Remembrance Week, we should
speak with one voice. To say ``never again'' means never again. And we
will continue to stand with our friends and allies in Israel, and we
will continue to stand against anti-Semitism here, there, anywhere.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.