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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I stand again in support of our great ally Israel.
The terror and devastation unleashed on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas terrorists has rightly horrified the world. What I am about to describe is difficult to say and uncomfortable to hear, but it has to be said on the Senate floor. We cannot make this stuff up. The world must know the atrocities that have occurred in Israel.
On the morning of Saturday, October 7, 2023, as families rose to start a new day, make breakfast, or slowly wake up in their beds, terror approached. Innocent families were murdered in their homes. Babies were killed. Innocent, little babies were murdered, and some were ruthlessly beheaded. Children were burned alive. Teenage girls were raped and then burned alive. An elderly, wheelchair-bound woman, who was later identified as a Holocaust survivor, was brutally dragged through the streets of Gaza. Children who witnessed the murders of their parents were kidnapped and are now being held hostage by Hamas. More than 250 young people were savagely murdered while attending a music festival in southern Israel--many shot in the back as they tried to run away.
At least 31 Americans--31 Americans--have been killed. More than 1,400 innocent people were killed in Israel, and we have no idea how many are being held hostage by Iran-backed Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The atrocities are too numerous to fully recount, but the images seen will never leave our memories.
I was sent a photo of Kfar Aza. I visited this kibbutz during a trip to Israel with AIPAC in 2019. At the time, it was full of happy families and children, but it is now silenced by brutality and death.
This week, I talked to the individual who gave me the tour of the village, or the kibbutz. It was a beautiful place, with nice people-- happy. I was told she is only alive because she was not there. She told me the family who lived next door to her on the right was murdered, that the family on her left was murdered, and that the family down the street was murdered. I was told that the Hamas terrorists set fires to force people out of their homes and safe rooms, and they savagely murdered innocent Israelis--many shot at close range. She told me that she was talking to her sister, who was in a safe room, and the Hamas terrorists were trying to break in. Fortunately, they weren't able to.
Children were shot in front of their parents, and some have been kidnapped to Gaza. Iran-backed Hamas terrorists slaughtered the innocent babies in their beds. I met so many happy people there just a few short years ago. Now I fear a lot of them are going to be dead.
We saw FOX News correspondent Trey Yingst report:
Bodies litter the town of Be'eri. You can see here it's complete and total destruction. All of the houses are destroyed. It looks like many were blown up with RPGs or other explosives. People were shot and killed in their beds, executed at point blank range. This is the most horrific thing I have ever seen.
Thomas Hand is the father of Emily, an 8-year-old girl who was killed by Hamas in Be'eri. Thomas had to wait 2 days before he found out that Emily was killed.
I am the father of two daughters and am the grandfather of seven grandchildren. Watching this father speak about the murder of his daughter is heart-wrenching.
He said to CNN:
They just said we found Emily, and she's dead. And I went ``Yes!'' And I smiled.
This is what he said.
He said:
I smiled because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew. . . . She was either dead or in Gaza.
He said:
And, if you know anything about what they do to people in Gaza, that is worse than death.
Do you know why they murdered Emily and more than 1,400 other Israelis and 31 Americans that these Iran-backed Hamas killers slaughtered? Simply because they were Jewish. They killed them because they hate Jews and want to kill every Jew.
It is unimaginable what these families have suffered. We cannot look away. Let's remember these were Israeli and American families. The atrocities are too numerous to fully recount, but these stories and the images we have all seen will never leave our memories.
Not since the Holocaust has the world witnessed such a brutal attack on the Jewish people. Sadly, the Jewish people have endured thousands of years of hate and persecution, but this will not be the end of Israel or the Jewish people.
Israel is surrounded by terrorist groups that want it wiped off the face of the Earth. I have seen this firsthand during my five visits to Israel, which has given me a clear perspective on Israel's proximity to its enemies Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, and Iran.
I want to be clear: Hamas and Hezbollah are not religious groups. They are not on a noble political quest for liberty or civil justice. They are terrorist thugs, and they are killers. They are killers who seek to eradicate the Jewish people from this Earth, and they are funded and supported by the evil Iranian regime.
In August 2021, the Senate voted 99 to 0 for my amendment to a budget bill to ensure that U.S. tax dollars do not benefit terrorist organizations such as Hamas. The vote was 99 to 0. Everyone in this body agrees American taxpayers should never fund Hamas terrorists. Unfortunately, the final text of the bill did not include my language, necessitating further action today.
Here is why we need the Stop Taxpayer Funding of Hamas Act. In 2021, Biden's State Department said:
We're going to be working in partnership with the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority to kind of channel aid there in a manner that does its best to go to the people of Gaza.
The official went on to say:
As we've seen in life--as we all know in life--there are no guarantees, but we're going to do everything that we can to ensure that this assistance reaches the people who need it the most.
We all know that Hamas controls Gaza. Every dollar that goes to Gaza comes under the control of Hamas, who decides what it is going to do with it.
So what I heard from the Biden State Department in 2021 is that the administration can't guarantee that American taxpayer dollars aren't going to fund terrorists in Hamas. The Biden administration thinks the risk of resources going to Hamas terrorists is OK because, in life, ``there are no guarantees.''
I reject that, and I will not leave anything to chance when it comes to preventing U.S. taxpayer money from being sent to the brutal terrorists who have slaughtered so many Israelis and Americans.
And we know for a fact that Hamas uses humanitarian aid to support its terrorist attacks. Look at this one. This is a humanitarian package. It is a humanitarian UNICEF bag that was found among the trucks used to carry Iran-backed Hamas terrorists into Israeli towns where they brutally murdered innocent families and burned homes to the ground. I guess there was no guarantee.
I have talked to a lot of rabbis in Florida. We have a lot of synagogues there. They told me that they have seen lots of pictures on Israeli TV of humanitarian rice bags and that, when people opened them, there were bullets in them.
The administration must do better and fully control where American taxpayer money is going. We can. We can make sure American taxpayers aren't funding terrorists. That is why I am again asking that we pass the Stop Taxpayer Funding of Hamas Act. I am proud to have the support of Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mike Braun, Kevin Cramer, and Ted Budd on this bill.
What this bill says--it is common sense--is that no funds will be authorized for the territory of Gaza until the President certifies to Congress that these funds can be spent without benefitting terrorist organizations.
The Stop Taxpayer Funding of Hamas Act also ensures that U.S. funds are not authorized for expenditure in the territory of Gaza through any United Nations entity or office unless the President can certify that it is not encouraging or teaching anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ideas and propaganda. It is pretty basic.
Finally, this bill mandates that the President certify that there are no hostages--and we know there are hostages in Gaza--being held in Gaza by any terrorist organization.
Just this morning, President Biden announced $100 million of U.S. aid for Gaza and the West Bank. While Iran-backed Hamas terrorists continue attacks against Israel and hold American hostages in Gaza, I cannot think of a more critical time to pass this bill.
Let me just finish with something that somebody reminded me of today.
I know a family in Florida who lost their sister-in-law and her husband, and I think there were two 6-years-olds and a 3-year-old. So here is the way it works. They lost their loved ones, but their government is going to tax them to give money to the Palestinian Authority that gives money to the terrorists who died while killing their family. You can't make this stuff up.
So, I mean, this is a simple bill.
Let me now turn it over to my colleague from Indiana, Senator Braun.
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I thank my colleagues Senator Braun and Senator Budd for joining me here on the Senate floor to pass this important legislation.
You know, the individual who gave me the tour of the kibbutz--she was telling me that they were just half a mile from Gaza, and before Hamas took over the Gaza area, she used to be able to walk all the way to the beach, and it was safe.
I think most people in America--no one is against Gazans, but to take any chance that our money goes to Hamas before or after this doesn't make any sense.
I think every single Member of this body can agree that the United States shouldn't allow a single dollar of taxpayer money to get into the hands of terrorists--funding that is being used to kill innocent Israelis and Americans and hold our citizens and others hostage.
I look forward to my colleagues joining me today.
489 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the Scott of Florida substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. So I hoped my colleague would change his position if he just read what I said. The bill doesn't say that money can't go to Gaza; it says that no funds will be authorized for the territory of Gaza until the President certifies to Congress that these funds can be spent without benefiting terrorist organizations. I don't know how anybody can disagree with that. It says that no funds are authorized for expenditure in the territory of Gaza through any United Nations entity or office unless the President can certify that it is not encouraging or teaching anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ideas and propaganda.
So this doesn't say money can't go to Gaza and help Gazans. This bill says the President has to ensure that this isn't happening and rice bags are not being filled with bullets and we are not having the PLO give money to terrorists who killed American citizens or their families. That is all this says, is that the money cannot go for the benefit of Hamas. So if you disagree with what this says, then you are saying money can go to Hamas. I don't know how else you can disagree with it. This is so basic.
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, let us just remember, what we are talking about is, this is not against sending money to Gaza. It is saying we have--if we are going to send money, it cannot go for the benefit of individuals who murdered babies, raped teenage girls, and shot people in their sleep. I mean, I don't know how anybody can ever support giving money to Gaza when you know it is going to go to Hamas if you are not careful. And that is exactly what this administration said.
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