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Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, this weekend, President Biden called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. What the President didn't acknowledge is that Israel and Gaza were not in a state of war until October 7, when Hamas broke a cease-fire. They stormed Israel's borders, and they raped, tortured, and killed innocent civilians.

Far-left, pro-Hamas activists are painting Hamas as freedom fighters that want to liberate their fellow Palestinians. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hamas uses innocent civilians--anyone from babies to the elderly--as human shields. They shelter themselves in schools and in hospitals. They have no regard for human life or dignity, not for Israelis and not for Palestinians.

Members of Hamas film themselves laughing as they maim and murder innocent people. They use sexual assault as a weapon of war. These are no freedom fighters; they are terrorists.

We saw a sobering example of that this weekend. The Israeli military recovered the bodies of four hostages who were captured, abused, and murdered by Hamas. They found them lying in a tunnel in Gaza. These included the body of Shani Louk, a young woman Hamas captured at the Nova music festival on October 7. She and the other hostages ran from the armed terrorists, who were killing people to their left and to their right, but Hamas caught up with them. They sexually assaulted and maimed Shani before they murdered her.

This weekend, the Israeli military returned the mutilated body of a young daughter to her grieving parents. These are not the deeds of freedom fighters. These are the deeds of terrorists.

There are still over 100 hostages being held in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead. Eight of those hostages are Americans, three of whom are dead as well--three Americans.

When President Biden calls for a cease-fire--one neither party has agreed to yet--he is just calling for Israel to surrender. He is emboldening Hamas and abandoning the dozens of people still being abused by these terrorists. He is equivocating because of political pressure.

President Biden must stop sacrificing a moral backbone for political gain. You don't negotiate with terrorists. Hamas is using hostages as political pawns, and no amount of diplomacy is going to change that.

The Biden administration should not be telling Israel's democratically elected government what they must do. Israel must make those decisions to protect their people and protect their country.

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