[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 4 (Friday, January 9, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H157-H158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ISRAEL
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Hirono). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Madam Speaker, the most fundamental purpose
for any government is its national defense and the protection of its
citizens. I stand here today in heartfelt support for Israel and for
its right to defend its innocent citizens from the attacks of a
relentless enemy that seeks its destruction. The conflict unfolding in
Israel's heartland today is not unfamiliar to the Israeli people.
{time} 1630
Since its establishment in 1948, the tiny State of Israel--22 of
which would fit into our State of California--has faced enemies on
every side that openly oppose its right to exist and work actively to
bring about its destruction.
Indeed, Israel has never known a reality where its very existence was
not threatened by this insidious ideology called jihad; an ideology so
sinister as to make men and women leap for joy at killing their own
children in order to be able to kill the children of others, whether
that means flying commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center or
sending a Qassam rocket into the side of a bus carrying small school
children in Israel.
Madam Speaker, in Imperial China, there was a terrible form of
execution known as death by a thousand cuts. It was an unspeakably
cruel demonstration meant to terrify observers into submissions. Israel
is fighting to stop the ``death by a thousand cuts'' strategy used by
Hamas to inflict constant, incessant destruction and terror on the
Israeli citizens; and the nation of Israel has acted nobly for the sake
of innocent Israelis, as well as innocent Palestinian civilians to
justly refuse to allow the bloodletting to continue.
Hamas was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the
United States in 1995. And it is a known proxy of the Iranian regime
which openly seeks to see Israel wiped from the face of the Earth. The
governing charter of Hamas openly calls for the destruction of the
State of Israel, with the goal of raising the banner of jihad over
every square inch of the State of Israel.
And still, Madam Speaker, time after time, Israel has acted in good
faith and has extended gestures of goodwill towards its Palestinian
neighbors and Hamas, including its complete disengagement from the Gaza
Strip in 2005 and its commitment to target only military installations
of its enemies despite the routine attacks against its own women and
children on almost a daily basis.
Madam Speaker, in all of its conflicts, Israel seeks to minimize
civilian casualties; Hamas has sought to maximize them. Hamas has
broken every cease-fire agreement and every honorable rule of war by
deliberately embedding their terrorist militants and weapons caches in
the homes of private citizens, and in schools, and in hospitals, and
mosques; and Hamas has repeatedly used innocent Palestinian civilians
as human shields while they deliberately target Israeli civilians.
There is no moral equivalence here, Madam Speaker. Hamas and Israel
are guided by two completely opposite philosophies: One is committed to
equality and human dignity under God, and one is committed to a
totalitarian ideology of hatred and intolerance; one is devoted to
protecting innocent human life, and one commands its destruction.
When a cease-fire agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas last
June, Hamas used that opportunity to build up its stockpiles of rockets
and weapons that now threaten approximately one million Israelis. And
now, Madam Speaker, in a struggle for peace and survival, Israel is
once again forced to carry out defensive action against Hamas in order
to stop the terrorizing of its innocent civilians.
And once again, once again, Madam Speaker, certain members of the
international community are calling on Israel to ``exercise
restraint.''
Madam Speaker, if 6,000 rockets had fallen on an American city over a
space of four years, what would we say to anyone who called upon us to
restrain ourselves in the effort to protect our own citizens? If those
same members of the international community who so harshly criticize
Israel for the defensive actions had to suffer for 1 week--just 1
week--under these indiscriminate incessant attacks against their
families and their loved ones as Israel has done for decades, Madam
Speaker, I would submit that the layers of Hamas would have been made
ashes once and for all long ago.
Madam Speaker, Charles Krauthammer recently wrote in the Washington
Post something I wish every world leader could understand. He said,
``Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israeli-Gaza
war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare, but
excruciating.''
Madam Speaker, I could not agree with those words more.
If the beleaguered Jewish people have learned anything in their
struggles for survival over the millennia against enemies who have
sought their complete annihilation, it is, as one Holocaust survivor
said, ``When someone says they intend to kill you, believe them.''
Madam Speaker, consider some of the things that terrorist enemies of
Israel have said they intend to do to Israel.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah stated, ``We have discovered how to hit the
Jews where they are most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is
what we shall take from them. We will win because the Jews love life,
and we love death.''
Wael al-Zarad, a Hamas Cleric, said, ``As Muslims, our blood
vengeance against them will only subside with their annihilation . .
.''
And Egyptian Cleric Safwat Higazi gave this mandate to jihadists on
Hamas television. He said, ``We say to you: Dispatch those sons of apes
and pigs to the Hellfire on the wings of the Qassam rockets. Jihad is
our path . . . This is our strategic option, and not peace. . . . They
[the Jews] deserve to be killed. They deserve to die. You should not
care if you hit a man, woman, or a child. . . . Destroy . . .
everything . . .''
Madam Speaker, those are horrifying words even when we hear them here
in the safe enclaves of our own homes and work places of America. But
for the people of Israel, such words mean terror and death.
Madam Speaker, America's enemies and Israel's enemies in this war are
the same. Both of us face the reality of radical Islamic jihadists who
would see our nations wiped from the face of the Earth if they could.
Both of our nations have been struck deeply, and Israel, in its case,
has been repeatedly, by any stretch of imagination, has been struck by
this same ideology time and time again; the same ideology that murdered
Olympic athletes in 1972, that took American hostages in Iran, that
murdered Marines in their barracks in 1993, that bombed the World Trade
Center in 1993, that bombed Riyadh in 1995, the Khobar Towers in 1996,
the embassy in 1998, the USS Cole in 2000. And then, Madam Speaker,
this murderous, hellish ideology massacred nearly 3,000 Americans on
September 11.
And this enemy makes little distinction between those who support
Israel and Israel itself, and for that reason, Madam Speaker, we must
realize that an attack on Israel is an attack on America and freedom
itself.
Listen to the words of Sheikh Ahmad Bahr, acting speaker of the
Palestinian
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Legislative Council. He said, ``Allah willing, America and Israel will
be annihilated . . . kill them all, down to the very last one.''
Madam Speaker, any policy of the United Nations or the United States
must articulate three concepts as prerequisites reached to any
agreements reached between Israel and Hamas. First, it must reject any
moral equivalence between the goals of Hamas and Israel. Secondly, it
must place the blame for this current conflict squarely on the
shoulders of Hamas, and third, it must clearly restate that America's
commitment to the State of Israel remains unshakable.
We stand with Israel not as Republicans, Madam Speaker, not as
Democrats, but as Americans and fellow members of the human family,
equal heirs of those unalienable gifts of God we call life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness; these basic human freedoms. We stand with
the innocent people of Israel who have been terrorized on a daily
basis, some for as long as they can remember. And we also, Madam
Speaker, stand with those courageous Palestinian souls who also long
for freedom and peace with their Israeli neighbors.
Madam Speaker, President Harry Truman, who formally recognized the
State of Israel only 11 minutes after Israel had declared its
independence, said, ``I had faith in Israel before it was established,
I have faith in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it--
not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great
ideals of our civilization.''
Madam Speaker, we recognize those words to be true and believe that
the cause of liberty will prevail in the land of Israel as it has so
many times before and that Israel indeed does have a glorious future
before it.
Throughout its history, the hand of God has been upon Israel, and
today we join in the solidarity with the State of Israel, and its
people, with the innocent Palestinians, and with all of who love peace,
and we pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
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