[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 101 (Thursday, June 12, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H2662-H2663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
          SUPPORTING ISRAELI SECURITY AND PALESTINIAN FREEDOM

  (Mr. Nadler of New York was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Israeli security; 
Palestinian freedom; a just, peaceful, and swift end to the war in 
Gaza; and an eventual, viable, and negotiated two-state solution.
  The situation in Gaza today is dire. I want to be clear. The war in 
Gaza began with Hamas' brutal attack on innocent Israelis on October 7, 
the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. For many in 
the Jewish community, in the United States, and around the world, time 
stopped on that day and has not yet resumed.
  It will resume when all the hostages are home. It will resume when 
the war is over and the reservists can return to their families. It 
will resume when there is enough food, water, and medicine in Gaza to 
alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe. It will resume when families on 
both sides of the border can sleep peacefully without the constant fear 
of rockets and bombs falling from the sky. It will resume when there is 
a lasting, durable, and negotiated cease-fire.
  Mr. Speaker, that day need not be far away. Israel achieved its goal 
of destroying the military capabilities and existential threat of Hamas 
months ago. Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu should be proclaiming victory 
and indicating his readiness to withdraw from Gaza contingent on the 
return of all the hostages, both living and dead.
  He should be signaling his willingness to support an international 
security force on an interim basis to ensure law and order and Israel's 
support for international investment in the training and equipping of 
an eventual Palestinian security force. He should be supporting 
confidence-building measures in the West Bank, which empower the 
Palestinian Authority contingent on the PA embracing and implementing 
real reforms. He should not be enacting an annexationist vision while 
the plague of settler violence runs rampant.
  The alternative, Mr. Speaker, is a stark and disturbing picture. This 
week, Tom Friedman wrote in The New York Times that: If ``Israel goes 
ahead with Netanyahu's vow to perpetuate this war indefinitely--to try 
to achieve . . . the far right's fantasy of ridding Gaza of 
Palestinians and resettling it with Israelis--Jews worldwide better 
prepare themselves, their children, and their grandchildren for a 
reality they have never known: to be Jewish in a world where the Jewish 
state is a pariah state, a source of shame, not of pride.
  ``Because one day, foreign photographers and reporters will be 
allowed to go into Gaza unescorted by the Israeli Army.'' And when they 
do, the full horror of the destruction there will become clear to all.
  Friedman continued, Mr. Speaker, writing: ``Israel, instead of being 
seen by Jews as a safe haven from anti-Semitism, will be seen as a new 
engine generating it; sane Israelis will line up to immigrate to 
Australia and America rather than beckon their fellow Jews to come 
Israel's way. That dystopian future is not here yet, but if you don't 
see its outlines gathering, you are deluding yourself.''
  Mr. Friedman is not alone in this analysis. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, 
former Israeli security officials have been speaking out. Last week, 
two former Israeli Air Force pilots, Brigadier General Asaf Agmon and 
Colonel Uri Arad, published a letter in Hebrew in the Israeli newspaper 
Haaretz. They wrote: ``As the war in Gaza dragged on, it became clear 
that it was losing its strategic and security purposes and instead 
served primarily the political and personal interests of the 
government. It thus became an unmistakably immoral war, and 
increasingly appeared to be a war of revenge.''
  I agree with these distinguished former officials. It is clear to me 
that we long ago reached the point where victory is no longer the goal, 
and the main obstacle to bringing the hostages home and ending the war 
is the politics of one man: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
  General Agmon and Colonel Arad are not peace activists, Mr. Speaker. 
They are former top Israeli Air Force pilots and high-ranking officers. 
We must heed their calls.
  They are not alone, Mr. Speaker. Commanders for Israel's Security is 
a movement of over 550 retired senior officials from Israel's defense, 
security and diplomatic services. The ``Commanders,'' as they are often 
referred to, recently published a letter urging Jewish diaspora voices 
to speak out in favor of ending the violence in Gaza.
  They wrote: ``Accused of weakening Israel or betraying their 
connection to the Jewish state, they are told that those who live 
abroad or do not serve in the IDF must keep silent. We categorically 
reject the notion that Jews in the diaspora must remain silent on 
matters concerning Israel. . . . To those who fear that public 
criticism undermines Israel, we say that open, honest dialogue only 
reinforces our democracy and security.''
  This is true for this body, too, Mr. Speaker. We all must speak up. 
If our voices contribute to preventing one

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more ounce of bloodshed or to the return home of a hostage 1 minute 
sooner or gets one more piece of bread into the hands of a starving 
Gazan or helps redeem the moral position of the State of Israel, our 
words are worth it.
  Jewish tradition teaches in Mishnah Sanhedrin that saving one life is 
like saving the whole world. I hope that we can come together to heed 
the voices that are speaking out at this moment, and that together we 
can work to save as many worlds as we can.

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