[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 247]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            STAND FOR THE RULE OF LAW, NOT THE RULE OF FORCE

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, we cannot truly celebrate a new year, a 
new Congress and a new administration if all we see is the same old 
destruction in the Middle East with U.S. weapons being illegally used 
to kill children.
  I oppose Hamas' rocket attacks on Israel. The rocket attacks, even to 
try to end the blockade, have no moral justification, are illegal, and 
must stop. But how can Israel claim self-defense when it bombs Gaza, 
which has no army, no air force, no navy, and has been under a constant 
blockade? How can Israel claim self-defense when its bombs destroy U.N. 
schools, killing children?
  The children of Palestinians and the children of Israel both deserve 
life. But the lives of the children of Gaza are cynically discounted as 
human shields. Massacres are being rationalized. Israel's ``moral high 
ground'' in Gaza, a growing pile of small bones in a graveyard.
  The administration knows Israel is using U.S. weapons, paid for by 
U.S. taxpayers, with disproportionate force, creating a collective 
punishment of Gazans, assuring an escalation of conflict, clear 
violations of the Arms Export Control Act.
  Israel was given U.S. weapons on condition they would not be used for 
aggression or escalation. This outgoing administration must finally 
stand for the rule of law, not the rule of force.

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