Ed Royce: “Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to the chairman and ranking member of the Middle East Subcommittee, Ms.…”

“Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to the chairman and ranking member of the Middle East Subcommittee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, and Mr. Deutch of Florida for their good work on this legislation. I am pleased to have worked with Mr. Engel and the leadership to ensure that this legislation was scheduled for the floor today for consideration. Mr. Speaker, this legislation places responsibility for the escalation and violence squarely where it belongs: with the Iranian- backed terrorist group Hamas. Hamas is deliberately targeting Israeli civilians through the use not only of rockets but longer and longer range missiles--2,500 of these so far--aimed at cities--Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, attempting to attack Israeli communities. Remember, these attacks are at civilian populations, they are not at military installations. And Hamas is perpetuating the kidnapping and murder, which started with three Israeli teenagers. Again and again, we have seen these incursions through these tunnels--32 new tunnels found so far--3 miles into Israeli territory. One of the amazing things, when you go into the tunnels, you see not only how they are used for these attacks, but what they have in reserve in these tunnels: ropes, syringes, tranquilizers, handcuffs, explosives, walls and walls of explosives. These were attempts to inflict mass casualty attacks on the civilian population.…”