Pete Ricketts: “on October 7, Hamas--a terrorist organization--committed a horrible atrocity on the people of Israel. Over 1,100 people…”

“on October 7, Hamas--a terrorist organization--committed a horrible atrocity on the people of Israel. Over 1,100 people were killed, hundreds taken hostage. We must support Israel to destroy this terrorist organization called Hamas. We must get our five American hostages back, and all the hostages must be released. We need to have an ironclad friendship with Israel to get this done. This seems obvious to most Americans. However, on the floor of this very institution, the majority leader got up and called for new elections in Israel; and Israel's Prime Minister, he said, was the obstacle to peace. It is absolutely outrageous the majority leader would make that speech from this floor while we have five American hostages being held by a terrorist group. He was pandering to the fringe anti-Israel, pro- Hamas wing of his party. It is despicable. It is terrible that he would undermine an ally of ours who shares our values, who has a democratically elected government, and undermine them in their hour of need when they are fighting against a terrorist organization. This is good versus evil. The atrocities Hamas committed were barbarous, uncivilized. And yet the majority leader took their side. Americans know Hamas must surrender--Hamas must surrender and release the hostages--and that we need to support Israel until Hamas is destroyed. So what was the majority leader doing?…”