[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
DENOUNCING THE USE OF CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS BY HAMAS AND OTHER
TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW;
AND CONDEMNING THE MURDER OF ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CHILDREN IN ISRAEL
AND THE ONGOING AND ESCALATING VIOLENCE IN THAT COUNTRY
=======================================================================
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
H. Con. Res. 107 and H. Res. 665
__________
JULY 25, 2014
__________
Serial No. 113-208
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
TED POE, Texas GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MATT SALMON, Arizona THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
MO BROOKS, Alabama DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
TOM COTTON, Arkansas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
PAUL COOK, California JUAN VARGAS, California
GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania Massachusetts
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California
RON DeSANTIS, Florida ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia GRACE MENG, New York
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
TED S. YOHO, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
CURT CLAWSON, Florida
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
TOM COTTON, Arkansas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
RON DeSANTIS, Florida JUAN VARGAS, California
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
TED S. YOHO, Florida Massachusetts
SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin GRACE MENG, New York
CURT CLAWSON, Florida LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
C O N T E N T S
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Page
MARKUP OF
H. Con. Res. 107, Denouncing the use of civilians as human
shields by Hamas and other terrorist organizations in violation
of international humanitarian law.............................. 2
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Con. Res. 107
offered by the Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a
Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, and
chairman, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa... 8
H. Res. 665, Condemning the murder of Israeli and Palestinian
children in Israel and the ongoing and escalating violence in
that country................................................... 5
APPENDIX
Markup notice.................................................... 22
Markup minutes................................................... 23
Markup summary................................................... 24
DENOUNCING THE USE OF CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS BY HAMAS AND OTHER
TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW;
AND CONDEMNING THE MURDER OF ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CHILDREN IN ISRAEL
AND THE ONGOING AND ESCALATING VIOLENCE IN THAT COUNTRY
----------
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:48 a.m., in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. The subcommittee will come to order.
We meet today pursuant to notice to mark up two bipartisan
measures. As your offices were previously notified, it is the
intent of the Chair to consider the following items en bloc.
And members will have before them, you have in your packet,
House Concurrent Resolution 107, Denouncing the use of
civilians as human shields by Hamas and other terrorist
organizations in violation of international humanitarian law;
number two, House Resolution 665, Condemning the murder of
Israeli and Palestinian children in Israel and the ongoing and
escalating violence in that country; and thirdly, Ros-Lehtinen
amendment in nature of a substitute to House Con. Resolution
107, which was provided to your offices yesterday.
Without objection, these items are considered as read. And
will be considered en bloc.
[The information referred to follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. After I recognize myself and the ranking
member to speak on these measures, I will be glad to recognize
other members who also seek recognition.
Without objection, all members may have 5 days to submit
statements for the record on today's business.
The Chair now recognizes herself for her opening statement.
Today we have before us two timely and important
resolutions. The first is House Concurrent Resolution 107,
which I introduced alongside with our ranking member,
Congressman Ted Deutch of Florida, that denounces the use of
human shields by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. The
second is the House Resolution 665, authored by David McKinley
of West Virginia and our Middle East and North Africa
Subcommittee colleague from California, Mr. Juan Vargas. Their
resolutions condemn last month's murder of the three Israeli
teens, and Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali by members of Hamas, and
the murder of Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khedair by Israeli
extremists and the escalation of violence.
It should be noted that while Israeli authorities move
swiftly to arrest three suspects in Mohammed's murder, Eyal,
Gilad, and Naftali's murderers are still roaming free, yet to
be brought to justice.
But these measures are significant and their timing is not
an accident. In light of the recent events that have transpired
in Israel and Gaza over the past month and a half, it is
extremely vital that the United States Congress serves as a
counterweight to those who seek to delegitimize Israel by
pushing a false moral equivalency measure. Make no mistake,
there is no equivalency whatsoever between Israel and Hamas, a
United States designated terrorist organization.
We need look no further than the mockery that is the United
Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) to see the dangers of
these efforts to delegitimize Israel. Just 2 days ago, that
council passed a resolution to form a commission of inquiry
into what it called war crimes and human rights violations by
Israel in Gaza. It should come as no surprise to any of us of
the one-sidedness of the UNHCR--and this is the same body that
gave us the deeply flawed and unabashedly biased anti-Israel
Goldstone Report in 2009.
Yet remarkably, there was no mention of Hamas'
indiscriminate rocket attacks on innocent Israeli civilian
populations. But surely firing rockets into Israel and placing
missile batteries in densely-populated areas and near schools,
near hospitals, near mosques would merit a mention? Or perhaps
using men, women, and children as human shields to protect
militants and their rockets would draw the proper amount of
outrage? No. Not a word.
But this has been the standard operating procedure of the
UNHCR. It has been an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel pro-terror
group for far too long. There must be some member nations on
that body that would have had the moral outrage that we in
Congress feel and that they would have voted against such a
resolution. Alas, the United States was the lone voice of
reason. The only Nation willing to say that we do not support
this, that this is completely insane.
Where were our European allies? Those European countries
that always tell us how much more enlightened they are than us.
Deafeningly silent. They couldn't even stand by the courage of
their convictions and vote either for or against the measure.
No. They all abstained from voting. Perhaps thinking they took
the moral high ground. But theirs is the worst crime of all,
their refusal to stand up for what is right.
So here we are again, another UNHCR one-sided inquiry that
will do nothing but embolden Hamas because Hamas sees this and
it thinks that the world supports what it is doing.
I commend the U.S. Representative to the UNHCR for standing
up against the resolution this week. Ambassador Harper rightly
said that this vote will undermine achieving all of our
objectives to end the hostilities and bring peace to the
troubled region and acknowledge that once again, the council
fails to exhibit any semblance of balance.
If the council truly cared about human rights, it would
condemn Hamas' use of human shields and its indiscriminate
rocket attacks against Israel. It would take a look at Hamas'
call for citizens to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate, or
Hamas' insistence that Palestinians stand on their roofs to
prevent an attack, putting the citizens directly in harm's way.
And the council would call upon Hamas to accept a ceasefire,
which I believe it has now refused to accept, at least three of
the four of those attempts at a ceasefire, while Israel has
accepted each one of them.
It would launch an inquiry into Hamas and its supporters,
like supposedly our U.S. ally, Qatar. Not only is Qatar a major
benefactor of Hamas, but it has also been working actively to
undermine Egyptian and other Nations' ceasefire efforts,
further embolding Hamas.
Qatar, the same question that we entrusted to watch over to
the Taliban 5 that has been supporting terrorists and radicals
all across the globe and offers them sanctuary. Qatar, the same
country that we just signed an $11 billion arms deal with, $11
billion, is the very same country that serves as Hamas'
mouthpiece through Al Jazeera, airing Hamas propaganda that
then gets broadcast to the world.
Perhaps that is something the UNHCR could look into. But it
won't, because it doesn't fit nicely into its agenda. And that
is why passing these two measures will send a strong message
that we will not allow Israel's enemies to undermine the
security of our democratic ally or its legitimacy, but that we
will continue to support Israel and do whatever is necessary to
help it eliminate the terrorist threat, be it Hamas or
Hezbollah or any other group.
I urge my colleagues to support these measures before us
today.
And now I will turn to our ranking member, Congressman
Deutch, for his remarks.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I want to thank you
for moving forward on these timely and important resolutions
today. And I extend my sincere gratitude to you for being a
tremendous partner in our joint effort, House Concurrent
Resolution 107, denouncing Hamas' use of civilians as human
shields.
I want to recognize Mr. Vargas for his work on House
Resolution 665, condemning the murder of Israeli and
Palestinian children in Israel and the ongoing escalation of
violence.
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and I were in Israel the night the
world learned the tragic fate of the three Israeli teens, Eyal,
Gilad, and Naftali. We mourned with the families and the tens
of thousands of others at their joint funeral. And we were
there just days later when 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khedair was
brutally and tragically murdered.
In the wake of these heartbreaking deaths, violence
escalated as Hamas began indiscriminately launching rockets to
southern Israel and then central Israel, Tel Aviv, and
Jerusalem. Thanks to the Iron Dome missile defense system,
hundreds of thousands of Israeli lives have been saved. Israel
has the right to defend her people against these attacks. And
she can't be criticized for making the investments in Iron Dome
to save her citizens while Hamas continues to invest in rockets
aimed at killing Israeli citizens.
In the week since the start of Operation Protective Edge,
Israel has uncovered numerous plots by Hamas to infiltrate
Israel via terror tunnels and to launch attacks on Israeli
civilians. I ask you to imagine what you would want your
country to do if rockets were raining down on your hometown. If
tunnels were built under your house, your children's nursery,
your grandfather's senior center for the sole purpose of making
it possible to pop up in those places and slaughter the people
who live there.
As President Obama said, no Nation should accept rockets
being fired into its border or terrorists tunneling into its
territory.
Look, we all mourn the loss of innocent life to both sides
of this conflict. It is tragic. But it is Hamas, a U.S. and
European Union designated terrorist organization, terrorist
army, that is embedding its terrorist infrastructure in densely
populated civilian areas.
As Israel makes every attempt to warn of incoming strikes
via phone calls, text messages, and leaflet drops, Hamas
spokesmen go on TV and encourage civilians to stay in their
homes to act as human shields. Hamas hides rockets in schools.
In the past week, rockets were found in two U.N. schools. It
hides them in mosques. There was a Washington Post report on
July 17, when it witnessed a group of men in a mosque in
northern Gaza seen moving small rockets into the mosque.
Madam Chairman, I know that emotions run high on both sides
of this conflict. But there is no path that leads to peace and
a Palestinian state living side by side with the Jewish State
of Israel that includes Hamas. The greatest impediment to peace
for everyone who wants peace in the region, the greatest
impediment to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is
Hamas, whose charter is founded on the destruction of the State
of Israel.
President Bill Clinton said in an interview this week,
Hamas was perfectly well aware of what would happen if they
started raining rockets in Israel. They fired 1,000 of them.
And they have a strategy designed to force Israel to kill their
own civilians so that the rest of the world will condemn them.
It is Hamas that chose to invest money in underground
bunkers for its leaders and terror tunnels and rocket launchers
instead of investing in jobs and schools and healthcare for the
people of Gaza. The siege that people like to talk about in
Gaza has been brought about on the people of Gaza by Hamas. And
it is Hamas that uses its own people as human shields to
protect these rocket launchers.
The use of civilians to protect military objectives is a
direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. Look, this week,
just this week, we heard from a Hamas spokesman. If there is
any question about what is really happening here, we heard this
statement. He said, we will keep tormenting Zionists until the
last Zionist leaves the soil of Palestine, all of Palestine.
Any calm is temporary, periodic calm. We don't talk about a
long-term peace agreement. Calm in a resistance dictionary
means preparation for the next war. The resistance will keep
developing, manufacturing, and stocking its arsenals with new,
surprising components for the next wars until the Zionist enemy
leaves our country and all our land.
That is the Hamas spokesman.
It is really simple, Madam Chairman. Any responsible Nation
that values human rights must condemn deplorable actions of
Hamas and other terrorist groups. And the U.N. vote this week?
Take a look at the 29 countries who voted to focus on Israel
instead of the country that is launching rockets and launching
terror attacks. Tell me about the great concern that human
rights that Cuba and Venezuela have as they voted for that
resolution.
Madam Chairman, I want to thank you for your commitment to
bringing these bills forward in a bipartisan manner. And I hope
that we have the opportunity as this--as this bill goes further
to further delve into what is a very simple and straightforward
proposition. That if you believe in human rights, if you
believe in democracy, then you must support Israel's right to
defend itself and you must condemn Hamas.
And I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Mr. Deutch.
Now I am pleased to recognize in the order you came in, Mr.
Schneider of Illinois is recognized.
Mr. Schneider. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And I am very
proud to join today and strongly rise to speak in support of
both House Concurrent Resolution 107, condemning Hamas' use of
human shields, and House Resolution 665, condemning the
measured of the four young people last month.
Speaking first to the human shields. In the 90 years since
Israel withdrew completely from Gaza, evacuating 9,000
Israelis, Hamas and other groups in Gaza have launched over
9,000 rockets. This month alone, over 2,000 rockets intended to
kill civilians and terrorize virtually every Israeli city,
town, and village, have been launched from Gaza.
Thankfully, Israel has developed, with the support of this
U.S. Congress and the American people, the Iron Dome defense
system, changing the calculus on the ground. Israel is doing
all it can to protect her citizens from Hamas rockets.
Conversely, Hamas is using the people of Gaza to protect
the rockets and rocket launchers.
I fully support Israel's right to defend her citizens, to
do what is necessary to eliminate the threat of rockets and the
threat of terror tunnels dug under the ground into Israeli
territory.
This resolution condemning the use of human shields,
clearly a violation of international humanitarian law, is a
strong statement that human shields cannot be used and Israel
must be allowed to defend herself. Hamas is a terrorist
organization. Hamas must be prohibited from using rockets to
terrorize Israel and human shields to defend those rockets.
Let me also speak to the resolution condemning the callous
murder of youths, whether it is boys Naftali, Gilad, or Eyal,
or boys named Mohammed.
The clear distinction is that after the murder of Mohammed,
Israel authorities quickly condemned the murder of the young
man, arrested, and are prosecuting the perpetrators. As I
stated before, the two murderers believed to have killed the
three young Israelis remain at large, and too many people are
unwilling to condemn the murder of Naftali, Gilad, and Eyal. We
stand together in support of the families. We stand--I stand in
support of Israel's right to defend herself, and I am proud to
stand and support both of these resolutions.
I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Mr. Schneider.
Mr. Chabot of Ohio is recognized.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to express
to my support for both resolutions being considered this
morning, H. Res. 665, Condemning the murder Israeli and
Palestinian children and the ongoing and escalating violence in
that country, and H. Con. Res. 107, Denouncing the use of
civilians at human shields by Hamas and other terrorist
organizations in violation of international humanitarian law.
I especially want to express my strong support for Israel's
right to defend its territory from attacks by Hamas terrorists.
Since the start of Operation Protective Edge a little more
than 2 weeks ago, more than 2,000 rockets have been launched
against Israel from Gaza, from Syria, from Lebanon, and from
Sinai, endangering of the lives of some 6 million Israelis. Yet
if we listened to Hamas spokesmen, Hamas apologists in the news
media, and in the anti-Israeli cabal in the U.N., we would be
led to believe that Israel has been the aggressor. Meanwhile,
Hamas exposes its own people to danger by launching strikes
from civilian neighborhoods near hospitals, near mosques, near
schools. There were even published reports earlier this week of
Hamas terrorists using ambulances as getaway cars.
This is a critical time in Israel's history. And it is
imperative that we continue to stand beside our friend and
ally. This subcommittee, by acting on these resolutions today,
is sending a strong message, I believe, both to Hamas and to
Israel. And I urge support of this resolution.
And I want to thank you, Madam Chair, for ensuring that our
message will be heard.
I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Chabot.
Ms. Frankel of Florida is recognized.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to thank my
colleagues for bringing these resolutions and for their very
eloquent remarks this morning. I support both resolutions.
Madam Chair, this week the United Nations found dozens of
Hamas rockets stored in two separate children's schools in
Gaza. These rockets are identical to the rockets that Hamas
uses to terrorize millions of Israelis. And this serves as a
reminder of what we already know. It is Hamas that is
responsible for the terrible loss of life both in Israel and
Gaza. Hamas embeds its weapons and launchers in schools in
houses and mosques and hospitals. While Israel uses Iron Dome
rockets to protect its citizens, Hamas uses citizens to protect
its rockets. So we watch the news and we see the heart-
wrenching images from Gaza and Israel. Remember, it is Hamas
who is to bear the blame.
And I thank you, Madam Chair.
And I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, ma'am.
Mr. Cotton not of Arkansas is recognized.
Mr. Cotton. Hamas must be destroyed. The Gaza Strip is run
by a rat's nest terrorist organization and has been for years.
These terrorists have no regard for human life. They commit
double war crimes every day by firing rockets and missiles and
mortars at Israeli citizens, which they cite at the homes and
the mosques and the hospitals and the churches of their
civilians. They invade Israel through tunnels, which must also
be destroyed because they are committing war crimes by wearing
Israeli uniforms to kill Israeli soldiers and Israeli citizens.
The Israeli defense force is the most moral humanitarian
fighting force in the world alongside with the Armed Forces of
the United States. And rather than try to pressure Israel in
any way, the United States should be standing by Israel along
with so many other Middle Eastern governments in their efforts
to destroy Hamas.
I am proud to support these resolutions, and I will
reiterate that Hamas must be destroyed.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Vargas of California is recognized.
Mr. Vargas. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I want to
thank you for bringing these resolutions forward, and
especially for the bipartisan nature. You can see we all agree
on these issues.
Israel has the right and really the moral obligation to
defend itself. It can't sit idle as missiles rain down on their
citizens. And so it has acted. And it has acted in a way not
only to defend itself, but attempt to protect innocent life on
both sides. Israeli soldiers have died in this process
protecting civilians in of the Gaza Strip. And people should
talk about that. I mean, this a very moral force that is in
Gaza. The Israelis have gone out of their way, not only
leafleting, but calling, letting people know, get out of the
house.
Hamas has said, no. Bare your chest. Take those missiles
on. Hamas has purposely put in these human shields to try to up
the count of civilians that die. And so we have to stand
strongly with Israel at this moment. We always should. I am
very proud of the United States and the actions that it took at
the United Nations the other day. I am very proud of our
government. We have to continue to stand by Israel in this
moment.
And I also want to thank Israel for not only capturing the
murderers of the young Palestinian who was murdered, Mohammed
Abu Khedair, 16 years old, but also condemning in the strongest
way the murder of any person. In Israel, these people that
murdered him were called terrorists and murderers as they
should. Yet the murderers that killed the three Israeli teens
are called heroes. That I think is the big difference. They
haven't been captured. They haven't been condemned. Instead,
they have been treated like heroes, and they have been allowed
to run around and been hidden by the Palestinian authorities
and others.
So I want to thank, again, Israel for not only condemning
the murder of the 16-year-old but also showing its moral
courage and going after them, the people who perpetrated the
crime and saying, these are the guys and, yes, they are part of
our citizenry and, yes, they are murderers. I wish the
Palestinians would do the same thing. And you don't see that.
So again, thank you very much for bringing this forward,
Madam Chair. I appreciate it very much, and I appreciate the
bipartisan nature. Thank you.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Mr. Vargas.
And always leaving the best for last, Mr. Connolly of
Virginia.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And thank you and
the ranking member for bringing these two resolutions before
us.
Today we consider those two resolutions. First, H. Res.
665, which condemns the murder of Israeli and Palestinian
children and the escalating violence in Israel.
The death that Mr. Vargas just referred to touched home in
my district. Mohammed Khedair is the cousin of one of my
prominent constituents. And that tragedy has touched our
community, our Palestinian community, particularly in Northern
Virginia, very hard.
But I echo the sentiments of Mr. Vargas. The sharp contrast
between the fact that the Israeli justice system is prosecuting
and pursuing those who perpetrated that murder is in sharp
contrast to the absolute lack of a justice system and lack of
any even semblance of adjudication and prosecution for the
murder of three Israeli young people is for all the world to
see.
The sound of sirens in Israeli cities warning of rockets
overhead and images of the growing humanitarian crisis now in
Gaza should strengthen, it seems to me, our resolve to end this
current conflict and to resume our pursuit for a more lasting
peace in Israel and Palestine. Our lesson from the crisis in
Israel is that violence begets violence. Hamas continues to
indiscriminately fire rockets into Israel, threatening the
lives of Israeli citizens. Just as any sovereign Nation would,
Israel has taken measures to protect its civilians from harm by
targeting Hamas' operations in Gaza.
Unfortunately, the scene in Gaza is not unfamiliar. A
brutal terrorist organization with wanton disregard for human
life has embedded itself in a civilian population, and it uses
that civilian population as a shield. The result is a
humanitarian crisis that worsens by the day. We should, it
seems to me, do all we can to arrest this endless cycle before
more innocent lives are lost and the gulf between Israelis and
Palestinians only widens it further.
I commend Secretary Kerry for his commitment to the peace
process and for trying to bring both sides to the negotiating
table. It is in the best interest of Israelis, the
Palestinians, and all those who seek regional stability in
negotiations for peace must resume.
Hamas has now fired over 2,000 rockets into Israel proper
since June. The rockets are poorly guided, and Hamas makes no
distinction regarding its targets. Flights out of Israel's Ben
Gurion Airport were recently disrupted when a rocket detonated
near that airport. Given this constant threat from above,
Israel has taken measures to mitigate risks to its civilian
population.
The Iron Dome system has had an 86-percent success rate in
intercepting missiles destined for Israeli population targets.
Consistent with the United States' close relationship with
Israel and our commitment to its self defense, we have provided
$1 billion toward the development of that successful system.
This doesn't even include the $351 million that was included in
the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that
passed the House in June.
Israeli defense forces have also launched Operation
Protective Edge, sending ground troops into the Gaza to disrupt
Hamas' rocket capability and to shut down tunnels that have
been used for terrorism.
Because Hamas has intermingled its military operations with
civilian populations as part of its strategy to evade discovery
and engagement by the IDF, there have been civilian casualties,
far too many, in Gaza along with the worsening humanitarian
crisis.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees
discovered itself Hamas rockets in a school next to a shelter
for 3,000 Palestinian residents. Civilians are caught in the
crosshairs of this conflict, subjected to violence, and cut off
from resources or any semblance of normal life.
It is with this in mind that I hope all of us will urge an
expedited return to the negotiating table. For those who once
criticized Secretary Kerry's attempts at reviving the peace
process, what is the alternative? It is a region embroiled in
endless conflict and misery, and a fate none of us want to find
acceptable for the Middle East.
Thank you again for your leadership, Madam Chairman, and
that of yours, Mr. Deutch, and I certainly look forward to
voting for these resolutions today.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Mr. Connolly.
Hearing no further requests for recognition, the question
occurs on adopting the items under consideration en bloc.
All those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it and the en
bloc amendments are approved.
Without objection, the items in the en bloc will be
reported favorably to the full committee, and House Concurrent
Resolution 107 will be reported in the form of a single
amendment in the nature of a substitute.
The staff is directed to make any technical and conforming
changes.
I want to thank all of the members and staff for their
assistance and cooperation that went into today's markup. I
thank you for coming.
And with that, the subcommittee is adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 10:17 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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