on September 11, 2001, even while smoke was still billowing from the wreckage of the Twin Towers, I knew deep within me that that attack on American soil would change not just my Nation's future but my own, and it did. I rushed back to the assault helicopter company I commanded at the time, ready to seek out the terrorists who attacked my Nation and slaughtered civilians. I did it willingly, without hesitation, because every fiber in my being felt the need to defend my country when she was threatened. So, today, let me be very clear. As a soldier and as someone who has always supported Israel, I strongly believe in Israel's right to defend herself and her people, especially when under attack from a terrorist organization like Hamas--a group that redefines the word ``cruelty,'' that seems to take pleasure in bloodshed, that refuses to adhere to the rule of law or international norms. If I were an Israeli soldier--if I woke up two Saturdays ago to the sights and sounds of massacre like they did--I, too, would be desperate to defend my nation and my neighbors; I, too, would want to make sure that those who turned my children's playgrounds into battlefields, who turned the grass under my daughter's swing set from a rich green to blood red, were never able to inflict such horrors again. I grieve for every Israeli life that was upended or, in too many cases, ended in such a horrific fashion. There is never an excuse or justification for terrorism, none.…
On the recordOctober 19, 2023
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