Political Quotes

“on October 7, Hamas brutally assaulted Israel, killing over 1,000 people--Israelis--and taking 240 hostages. On October 22, I was in Israel with 10 Senators--5 Democrats, 5 Republicans. We were there to see firsthand what Hamas had done. To tell you that it was beyond description--it hit each one of us extremely hard. We saw the anguish in the country. The most difficult meeting we had was not with the war cabinet--and we met with the war cabinet, the major members of the war cabinet--but it was meeting with the families of the hostages. It broke our heart. The hostage families told us: You are not going to see tears because there are no tears left in our body. Unspeakable things happened, and the horror was beyond description. I know my colleague Senator Collins has put up a photo of Abigail, a 3-year-old--a 3-year-old--who was taken hostage by Hamas. We expressed to the Israelis our commitment to stand with Israel, Israel's right and obligation to defend itself, the need to take out Hamas, and our commitment to do everything we possibly can to bring the hostages home safely. I want to start by thanking President Biden for his extraordinary leadership on behalf of our Nation in that mission. He has held meetings with the hostage families, with government leaders from Israel and other countries, and so have we. We have had numerous meetings here in Washington and in our States with families of the hostages.…”