On the recordMay 19, 2021
Madam President, reserving the right to object, my colleague is wrong for trying to boil this down in an attempt to distract from the reality we are seeing here today. The radical left is fully embracing the lie of false equivalence and refuses to plainly state: Israel has the right to defend itself, period. My colleague's resolution offers nothing supporting Israel's rightful efforts to stop this repeated cycle of violence. No one in this body welcomes the loss of innocent life--no one. But we cannot and I will not accept the left's ignorance of the evil and devastating role Iran plays in funding and supporting Hamas, the terrorist organization responsible for taking innocent lives. My colleague's resolution offers nothing to condemn Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. My colleague's resolution offers nothing to condemn Hamas. Here is the difference between Israel and Hamas. Hamas uses its rockets to kill innocent Israelis. Israel uses its rockets to defend its people. It should not be difficult for the Senate to simply reaffirm our support of Israel, one of our greatest allies and our most important ally in the Middle East, and condemn the escalating terrorist attacks against Israel and its right to end the murder of its citizens. It wasn't difficult to get that done in 2014, when my colleague and every other Member of the Senate unanimously supported then-Majority Leader Reid's resolution supporting Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas.…





