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Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I rise to join my colleague from Alabama and other colleagues and outline the importance of maintaining and continuing to strengthen our Nation's support for our essential ally in the Middle East, Israel.

The U.S.-Israel partnership is vital for Israel. It is vital for the United States. It is vital for security in the world. It is vital in this global fight against terror.

Israel needs our help. It needs our help to fend off numerous attacks from Iran and its proxies, and I am proud of the contributions our Armed Forces have made in helping defend Israel from a wide variety of drone and missile attacks. The skill of our committed airmen, airwomen, soldiers, sailors, marines, special forces--their skill, unbelievable; their bravery, courage under fire; the technology that we have utilized, it is just incredible. The things that they have been able to do in terms of helping Israel, it is just beyond belief. And so we commend all of them.

But we need to continue. We need to continue. We need to help Israel defeat Hamas. They need our help to completely destroy Hamas's military capability, and we can't relent until that is done. This is not a one- way partnership. This is not just the United States supporting our ally Israel. Israel is really the tip of the spear.

Israel plays a vital role in standing against terror and deterring Iranian aggression across the Middle East. When you look at Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and other groups, these are terrorists that are financed, trained, sponsored, and directed by Iran. We need to recognize that. We need to take a tough stance on sanctions and other measures against Iran and recognize that these proxies for Iran are conducting its missives, its directions.

We are deeply appreciative of Israel's efforts to push back on Iran, on the Houthis, on terrorists, and all those who seek to destabilize not only the Middle East region, but across the world.

And as we have heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say many times of these extremists: If they are not stopped in the Middle East, they will set their sights on America. They will, and they have, and they will continue to do so.

Our partnership with Israel is based on our shared values and our shared commitment to freedom. Without that partnership, terrorists, extremists, and authoritarians would run rampant across the Middle East and other parts of the world, threatening the global economy and positioning themselves to threaten the United States directly.

And so the peace and stability we seek in the Middle East will come as the result of a strong U.S.-Israel partnership, and that is emblematic of the type of relationships that we must have with our allies. We must stand with our allies and stand up against our adversaries. And standing with our allies means not second-guessing them; for example, when Israel is conducting this war, they know how to defeat Hamas. And we need to help them do it, not second-guess how they are doing it.

That is why it is so important that we heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu in person today. We needed to hear directly from him about exactly what is going on as Israel prosecutes this war and the support that they need to be successful in defeating Hamas. And now we need to move in a bipartisan fashion to continue to strengthen that relationship.

There is really no time to lose. Iran's time to a nuclear breakout is down to a very short period. We need to stand together and prevent Iran from developing and, potentially, deploying a nuclear weapon.

Hamas remains a dangerous terrorist organization. Hezbollah presents a growing threat in northern Israel. The Houthis, backed by Iran, pose a threat to Israel and the wider region in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, attacking shipping from many different countries.

So it is essential that we make sure that Israel has the military assistance required to stand against these threats. Again, they are the tip of the spear. They are doing the fighting, and we need to help them. We need to offer all the support we can in every form, and we must oppose anti-Semitism in all its forms and wherever we find it.

I want to express my appreciation for Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit and for his remarks to our joint session of Congress today. I thought it was an incredibly powerful and moving speech and one that not only the Senators and the Members of Congress needed to hear but all Americans--all Americans--needed to hear. And I hope that we can respond to the Prime Minister's visit by continuing to move in a bipartisan way to work with Israel to defeat the threats it faces and affirm our shared values, our shared commitment to freedom, liberty, and democracy.

Standing with Israel is good for the United States. It is good for the region. It is good for the world.

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