Daniel B. Maffei: “Mr. Speaker, I want to address exactly what the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) was talking about and, that is…”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to address exactly what the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) was talking about and, that is, Iran's involvement and what we can do about it. Indeed, it has been since 2007 that Israel, along with Egypt, has instituted this blockade of the Gaza strip to stop individuals from smuggling weapons, and over the course of the blockade, as we have already talked about, Israeli defense forces have diverted numerous ships, all without incident. Nobody ever wishes for fatalities or injuries to occur during the enforcement of a blockade, but the fundamental thing to understand is that Israel has the same right to self-defense as any country. Days before the incident, Israel notified Turkey and other governments participating that it would not allow flotillas to breach the blockade at Gaza, and as Mr. Weiner indicated at the beginning of this hour, humanitarian aid was allowed to be off-loaded in the Port of Ashdod. I am confident that the Israeli government will conduct a full and credible investigation regarding this incident, and it is imperative that we draw on the special relationship that endures between the United States and Israel and continue to stand by our ally.”