Political Quotes

“And my colleagues, in the overnight hours of May 31, about 10 days ago, news broke that we now have become very familiar with--the previous speaker referred to it, and several of my colleagues have come to the floor this evening to talk about it--where a flotilla coming from Turkey was intercepted as part of the effort of the State of Israel to defend a blockade that was set up. I want to spend the next hour talking a little bit about that boat and how it progressed, where it came from and why, and perhaps importantly drill into a little bit the idea of what the blockade is all about and what the history was. It is impossible to fully understand this issue only looking at it from the point of Israeli naval officers climbing on board a ship and saying, okay, I think I understand the story because I see that picture. That would no more be the truth than to watch the closing scene of Casablanca and say, okay, I understand what happened in this movie. This was indeed a tragic thing. Anytime there is loss of life, anytime you have military officers, commandos climbing on a boat, something has broken down, something has failed. But what I don't think is fully understood, and still to this day isn't understood at capitals around the world, is who initiated this thing and why it was initiated.”