Ongoing Hostage Crisis

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the story of Romi Gonen. She is still held hostage in Gaza.

She is a bright, young 23-year-old woman who on that fateful Saturday morning, 10:58 a.m. to be exact, was at a peace concert with her friends out in the desert, and then she found herself in an unimaginable circumstance fleeing in a car with her friends being shot at trying to escape Hamas terrorists.

The car was later found, and it was empty. Romi's incredible mother, Meirav, describes her daughter as a strong and happy type, and she was a former Scouts counselor. She was someone who loved being with children.

So as we stand here telling Romi's story from the floor of the House of Representatives, the concentration of democracy in the United States of America, we recognize that what happened on October 7 was an attack on all of us. It was an attack on free and civil society. It was an attack on humanity.

The fact that for 115 days Romi and hundreds of others of all ages and demographics and different ethnicities have been held hostage by those who do not seek to keep their own people safe is a reality that we have to reckon with because it is fear that they have sought to put into all of us.

I am calling for Romi's release along with all of the hostages release. I continue to support the Biden administration's efforts through diplomacy and through negotiation to return these individuals. I also am using the authority vested in me as a Member of the United States House of Representatives to call for the passage of aid, to call for the funding of aid so that we can see Romi reunite with her family and so that we can see this war come to an end.

We are heartbroken over the death and destruction that Hamas terrorists have brought on to the beautiful and incredible country of Israel and, frankly, to their own people.

No one was calling for war but Hamas on October 7.

We have to stand by democracy as the United States of America. We have to stand by individuals and people like Romi, her family, and the others.

It is a true and profound honor to be here this evening with my colleague, someone whom I admire so deeply, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Like our majority leader emeritus, Steny Hoyer, I will continue to come to this floor to advocate, to push, and to fight for the return of Romi and the far too many others who continue to be held hostage by Hamas terrorists.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her incredible support, leadership, advocacy, and poignancy in which she has been a supporter of the State of Israel in her hour of need.

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