[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15397-15398]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  SUPPORTING OUR CLOSEST ALLY, ISRAEL

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 16, 2012

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, this week and even today 
Israel's terrorist enemies massively escalated their rocket attacks on 
our country's closest ally, Israel--Hamas has fired its rockets at 
large cities whose population has not been under attack for decades, 
including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the latter of which had never been 
subject to rocket attack. Sadly, three people have been killed.
  Words cannot express the inhumanity and barbarity of these rocket 
attacks. The number of Israelis who live under daily threat of air 
attack has increased exponentially: more than a third of Israel's 
population lives in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area alone, which was 
last under rocket fire during the first Gulf War.
  This is the moment for America to send a clear message: Hamas's 
rocket attacks are completely and totally unacceptable and unjustified 
and intolerable, their escalation even

[[Page 15398]]

more so. The Israeli government has not only the right but the duty to 
defend its people. I want to recognize and applaud Israel for 
vigorously doing so, and for taking every reasonable precaution to 
avoid civilian casualties. I want to remind my colleagues that Hamas's 
goal is not to avoid civilian casualties, but to initiate conflict that 
will cause it, so that all the people killed, whether Israeli or 
Palestinian, are in fact Hamas's victims. Our hearts and prayers go out 
to their families.

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