Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to address the current situation in what used to be called the Gaza Strip. I believe looking at American polls prior to the invasion that took place in October, there were too many segments of the American population who--insofar as there were disagreements between, I guess, what we will call Gaza and the State of Israel or Palestinians in the State of Israel--sided with the Palestinians. They felt somehow Israel was doing something wrong. I still run into some of these people when I go back to my office across from the Capitol building because sometimes they are out there protesting or making some sort of a case. I believe that all Americans should realize that--until what they did to themselves about a month and a half ago--that the people in the Gaza strip were fortunate to belong in an area right adjacent to Israel proper. First of all, in that part of the world, there is probably nowhere where you would want to live more than Israel. As far as basic freedoms, which we take for granted in the United States, those freedoms are available to people living in Israel, and the freedoms, to a large extent, came from a Western culture which was brought to that part of the world as Jews moved there from other areas around the Middle East and from Europe beginning before World War II. Indeed, that land was largely a wasteland. It is interesting to read Mark Twain's comments when he toured that part of the world.…”