On the recordApril 9, 2024
Mr. Speaker, six brutal months have passed, and over half of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th have still not been released. This is nothing short of an unthinkable crime against humanity. It is inhuman. Each of the remaining hostages, these are human beings. Human beings with individual hopes and dreams, just like you and me. Each one has a family and loved ones back home in Israel, devastated by their kidnapping and desperately begging for their release. Many are children, or elderly, with no involvement in any combat whatsoever. Last week, I saw the Nir Oz Kibbutz and the site of the Tribe of Nova Music Festival, where so many Israelis were kidnapped on October 7th, and many more were killed. I heard firsthand accounts from survivors on the ground, you can still hear the pain in their voices. Even then, that pain is incomparable to the ongoing trauma of those who were taken hostage by these terrorists, their specific whereabouts and conditions still unknown. The attacks of October 7th were and continue to be crimes against humanity. Americans looked on in horror as videos emerged of the bloodshed and the destruction. Mothers and fathers across our country, including myself, were overcome with intense emotion. Think about your child, if they were torn away from you, or worse, as so many were. America is unified in standing with the Israeli hostages and their families.…





