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Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, so far--so far--the United States is standing behind Israel, as it should, in Israel's fight against Hamas-- so far.

Don't go wobbly on us, President Biden. Don't go wobbly on Israel.

But some people in Washington seem confused as to why America backs Israel. I am seeing a lot of hand-wringing from folks who like to pretend that there is some kind of--they use this word a lot: ``nuance''--that there is some kind of nuance we need to apply to the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7 before we can condemn Hamas and hold its supporters accountable. President Obama has even suggested that somehow we are all complicit in the bloodshed.

Some people promoting this idea of nuance, frankly, believe that Israel got what it deserves. Now, they don't say that, but that is what they believe. They believe that Israel got what it deserved. These folks who believe that also apparently believe in diversity, equity, inclusion, and the right to kill Jews.

Thankfully, that is not most Americans. That is a lot of people here in Washington, DC.

In Louisiana, however, my State, we understand that the debased people who slaughtered hundreds of young people at a peace concert are the bad guys. In Louisiana, we understand that the odious men who raped women, raped and sodomized women next to the bodies of their dead friends, don't deserve to be on this planet. We in Louisiana understand that the degenerates--the degenerates--who forced kidnapped Holocaust survivors to pose for photos--to pose for photos, for God's sake--next to their terrorist captors are just wrong.

Nothing--nothing--that the Israeli Government has ever done or could do warranted throwing grenades at children hiding in a bomb shelter. Why are some people reluctant to admit that?

You don't need to read a treatise on the Middle East to know that only monsters--monsters with black hearts--would put a baby in an oven and flip on the switch, as one first responder reported. That is not nuance; that is evil.

The evil we saw unfold when Hamas butchered Israeli civilians is indefensible. It is indefensible. Those terrorists brutalized thousands of people, including dozens of our American friends and neighbors. Hearing the stories from the survivors and from the first responders-- it is nauseating. It is not nuance; it is evil.

Yet the Hamas terrorists took joy, they yelped for joy, as they massacred civilians. One terrorist called his mom--called his mother-- to brag that he had ``killed 10 Jews with my own hands.'' Who would brag about something like that? Another Hamas official celebrated the violence and vowed to continue to wage attacks like this ``again and again and again'' until Israel no longer exists.

No family in Israel will be able to sleep soundly at night until these terrorists are wiped off the face of the Earth.

Israel has both the right and it has the responsibility to defend itself. I am proud that the United States of America is supporting Israel.

Don't go wobbly on us, President Biden. Stand your ground. Don't go wobbly.

I am proud that the United States is supporting Israel. The world will be a safer place for Israelis and Americans alike when Hamas ceases to exist.

Hamas leaders told anyone who would listen--anyone who would listen-- they told us exactly what they intended to do and wanted to do and will continue to do. They told anyone who would listen that their goal is to kill as many Jewish people as possible, and that is still their goal.

This wasn't a protest against Israel's Government; it was a massacre of Jewish people--the largest since the Holocaust.

It is not surprising, then, that some who oppose intervention in Gaza have turned to attacking Jewish Americans.

In New York City, those people cornered Jewish students in a library, forcing a librarian to offer to hide the students in an attic. At Cornell University, they threatened to shoot up the kosher dining hall. At my State's Tulane University, activists broke a student's nose because he opposed their anti-Israel demonstration.

These protests didn't occur in New York City or Cornell or Tulane by accident; they targeted these areas because they are home to many Americans who happen to be Jewish. That is just a fact. New York is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. Tulane, in my State, which was the first university in the South to welcome Jewish students, has a student body today that is roughly 40 percent Jewish. It was no accident.

When confused activists twist themselves in knots trying to justify the torture and the rape and the killing of Jews in the Middle East, they are feeding the fires of anti-Semitism here at home as well. Unfortunately, we have seen that over the past few weeks.

Let's not forget--it is Hamas who is using civilians as human shields. Hamas is the group also hoarding fuel and food as Palestinian civilians starve. Hamas is the group that dug up water pipes to turn them into rocket launchers.

The truth is that the Palestine people, the people of Gaza, and the Israeli people all suffer because of Hamas, and any suggestion that Israel is culpable for this suffering plays into the hands of the terrorists.

In Louisiana, we can see through the pseudo-intellectual hand- wringing of Israel's critics. The truth is that Hamas brutalized Israeli citizens and then ran home to hide behind their women and children, using those women and children as human shields. They are the lowest kind of pond scum, the lowest kind of sadists imaginable.

Over the past week, Hamas has released some hostages as part of a temporary cease-fire. I am happy for that, and the American people are happy for that. I and they hope that every hostage will be reunited with their family soon. We cannot forget, however--we should not forget, however--that Hamas vowed to continue attacking and kidnapping Israeli citizens again and again and again, and the only way to stop this cycle is to eliminate Hamas.

I was out of the country, in another country, when Hamas attacked Israel, and I did not know what position President Biden would take. I didn't. He said: I am standing with Israel. I was so relieved.

I know President Biden is under a lot of pressure from the loon wing of his party to abandon Israel, to demand a permanent cease-fire, to let Hamas go unpunished. But Hamas doesn't want a permanent cease-fire. Hamas had a permanent cease-fire on October 6, the day before they attacked Israeli civilians, and Hamas forfeited that cease-fire unilaterally.

Here is what Hamas wants: Hamas wants to terrorize Israel until all of the Jewish people are dead. Hamas wants to terrorize Israel until all of the Jewish people are dead. Hamas wants to kill Jews. Hamas wants to kill Jews and drink their blood out of a boot.

That is not nuance, President Obama; that is evil.

President Biden needs to show the world--and, frankly, some members of his own party--that the United States of America and its good people will continue to stand with Israel until Hamas is in ruins, until Hamas is dead and we drink their blood out of a boot, until Hamas's genocidal agenda is abandoned.

The world will be safer on that day, and it will certainly be safer because Hamas is not in it. By supporting Israel's efforts, Americans are helping to ensure that an attack like October 7 never happens again, and I think most fairminded Americans understand that.

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