Ted Poe: “Israel has the absolute right to defend itself. It is under siege. In the north, it has the terrorist group Hezbollah…”

“Israel has the absolute right to defend itself. It is under siege. In the north, it has the terrorist group Hezbollah; in the south, it has the terrorist group Hamas, both firing missiles into that Nation. Recently, six ships tried to break a blockade going into Gaza. Israel defends its borders and searches ships to make sure that aid going to Gaza is not from Iran and it is not weapons. But this was not humanitarian aid workers that assaulted the Israeli commandos, where 10 of them were hurt. It turns out that their goal was, of course, to have an international incident. The reason being, after these ships were stopped and then allowed to proceed into Gaza, the humanitarian aid was denied and refused by Hamas. Obviously, an international incident that had gone bad for Hamas. Recently, myself and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Peters), along with 128 Members of Congress have tried to make it clear to the White House that the United States should stand with our ally Israel, that we should make it clear to Israel, to America, and the rest of the world that Israel has the absolute right to defend itself in this situation and support the blockade and support their actions of the flotilla. This should be clear to all concerned throughout the world, especially Hamas and Hezbollah. And that's just the way it is.”