[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5151]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ISRAEL AND AMERICA

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, from its beginning, Israel, the lone 
free and democratic country in the Middle East, has had to fight for 
its very existence against enemies on all sides.
  Historically, the only language its neighbors spoke was the voice of 
violence.
  In the war of independence, Israel fought Lebanon and Syria in the 
north, Iraq and Jordan in the east, Egypt to the south. Now, over 60 
years later, not much has changed. Israel still is the target for 
annihilation by Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. In the 
pathway to the east lies Israel's greatest threat, Iran, who celebrates 
an anti-Israel day every September.
  Israel's enemies are bent on the destruction of this nation and her 
values, such as democracy, freedom, justice, liberty. These are also 
American values. Those who kill innocent Israeli citizens also seek the 
murder of the American way of life.
  We should make it clear to the world that the beacon of democracy in 
the Middle East, Israel, is our friend and our ally, and together we 
two nations are a force to be reckoned with.
  And that's just the way it is.

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