Israel

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I would like to begin my remarks today with a quote: The idea that we would cut off military aid to an ally-- our only true, true ally in the entire region--is absolutely preposterous. It's just beyond my comprehension why anyone would do that.

Five years ago, then-Candidate Biden was saying the right thing about America's commitment to the Jewish State of Israel. Unfortunately, today he is doing the complete opposite. The President and his administration are withholding critical military assistance from Israel as it fights to restore its security against savage terrorists, and they are refusing to answer basic questions about it.

Last week, the Speaker of the House and I sent a letter to the Biden administration, pressing for specific details on which weapons were being withheld and why they were being withheld. And while we waited for an answer, the Secretary of State spent the weekend dodging requests for any serious rationale driving the President's decision.

Now, it is no secret that the administration is under immense pressure from the anti-Israel left. It is evident in the words of some of our own colleagues. Members of this body have urged the President to ``be more aggressive with the Israelis.'' They have demanded that ``not one penny go to support America's ally unless Israel yields to their view of what's acceptable in self-defense.'' And, of course, they have even engaged in grotesque political interference, calling for regime change in a sovereign democracy.

The Intelligence Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow about foreign interference in our politics and elections, and yet too many of our Democratic colleagues can't seem to resist the temptation to put their fingers on the electoral scales of other democracies.

Far too many Washington Democrats have indulged in what I call the ``Bibi derangement syndrome,'' an absurd trope that is setting a dangerous precedent.

Some of our colleagues talk about an Israeli Government dominated by shadowy, far-right forces. That government literally does not exist. Israel is led by a coalition, a national unity government. And its war cabinet, which includes members of multiple political parties, is distinguished by the absence--the absence--of the most conservative members of the coalition.

By all accounts, support for military operations in Gaza and against Hezbollah in Lebanon transcends Israeli politics. But here in Washington, Democrats want to pretend that what they are objecting to is merely the will of a Prime Minister they don't like.

Some of our most senior Senate colleagues, including the chairman of the State Foreign Operations Subcommittee, just this weekend have even demonstrated an eagerness to assign political blame within Israel for the failure to prevent the October 7 attacks. Well, that will be the job of the people of Israel, and it will come after they finish restoring their security against the terrorists wearing Israeli and American blood.

But let's make one thing absolutely clear: If the Biden administration continues to hector and impede our ally's progress toward this goal, a share of the blame for Hamas's success may well come to rest right here in Washington. Of course, there is already plenty of blame to go around among the Western institutions that have fallen into predictable patterns of dangerous, anti-Israel bias in the months after October 7, from the media that rushed to fit the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust into tidy, artificial narratives of moral equivalence and ``cycles of violence'' to the prominent international organizations that continue to elevate and legitimize outright terror propaganda.

Just a few days ago, the United Nations finally admitted that the figures on Palestinian casualties it had held up for months as objective truth had been grossly overstated. As a spokesman put it, ``In the fog of war, it's difficult to come up with numbers.'' No kidding. It is especially difficult to get accurate data when you rely exclusively on the word of Hamas.

Unsurprisingly, just days after announcing its revised numbers, the U.N. backtracked yesterday and resumed taking the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza at its word. But remember, the U.N.'s affiliation to terrorists isn't limited to data gathering, is it? Employees of the U.N.'s relief and work agency, UNRWA, quite literally participated in the October 7 attack.

So why don't we talk about the facts. In the last 9 days, the terrorists controlling southern Gaza have attacked a major entry port for humanitarian aid from Israel six times--six times. This is not an accident. And if terrorists strike the absurdly inefficient and costly floating pier, that won't be an accident either.

The true obstacle to peace and stability for the people of Gaza is loudly identifying itself. Hamas is showing us precisely why it can play no part in the future of Israelis or Palestinians, and a true ally would give Israel the time, space, and support it needs to eliminate the terrorist threat.

But that is not what we have seen from the Commander in Chief. By limiting Israel's options, the President is giving the terrorists a lifeline. Does the Biden administration really expect Hamas to capitulate at a negotiating table when our conditions on Israel help terrorists survive on the battleground? And does the President think exhausting an arsenal of expensive, low-inventory interceptors is changing Iran's broader calculus?

The lesson from repelling Iran's direct drone and missile attacks on Israel or commercial shipping vessels isn't that we can't intercept them; the lesson is that we still haven't managed to compel Iran to stop doing it and that we ought to be doing much more to rebuild our stocks and capacity to produce air and missile defenses as well as the long-range weapons that can credibly threaten what Iran and other adversaries hold dear.

This isn't new criticism, and it isn't a new problem. An emboldened Iran, an unchecked network of proxies, and brazen violence against Israel, America, and the global economy--the President's choices have magnified these threats. He has invited them with retreat, with hesitation, and with appeasement.

Today, the United States has effectively allowed itself to be deterred by a second-rate terrorist power, and the world is taking note. Our credibility is not divisible. Our failure to meet one challenge compounds the others we face.

But the path forward is not a mystery. As I have said repeatedly: rebuild our military power, stand with our allies, deter our adversaries, and do it today.

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