-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, the Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, just delivered a historic speech to Congress. This is the fourth time the Prime Minister has spoken to the U.S. Congress. That is more than the late Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill.

Like Prime Minister Churchill, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke about a battle between freedom and evil. He shared with us welcome news, and that news is that freedom is winning.

Israel is committed to bringing home the hostages, to protecting its citizens from the atrocities that occurred on the October 7 attack.

Meanwhile, the Hamas terrorist network is under more pressure than ever. Half of its senior leadership is dead. Its military chief has likely been eliminated.

Remember, Hamas is a terrorist group. It governs through fear and through violence. Hamas violently rejects the right of Israel to exist and the right of the Jewish people to live in Israel. Hamas hides behind civilians. It uses them as human shields.

Hamas stores its military weapons designed to kill in hospitals, in schools, and in homes. It has stolen billions of dollars of humanitarian aid to build its terrorist tunnels all around the area of the Gaza Strip. This is the same tunnel network where, for 9 months and counting, 116 hostages, including 8 American hostages, have been held by Hamas terrorists.

I stand firmly with Israel as Israel fights to finish the war and defeat Hamas. Sadly, supporting Israel has grown more divisive in this country than I have ever seen it before.

Today, Democrats are abandoning our greatest ally in the Middle East. They are calling to put conditions on aid to Israel. The Biden-Harris administration has delayed the delivery of war-winning weapons.

The Senate Democrat leader meddled in Israeli politics. He proclaimed in no uncertain terms on the floor of this very body that Prime Minister Netanyahu should step down.

The senior Senator from Vermont went even further. Last month, he declared that Prime Minister Netanyahu is a ``war criminal.'' That accusation is disturbing, it is damaging, and it is dishonest.

If that weren't bad enough, Vice President Harris skipped the Prime Minister's speech entirely. The Vice President typically presides over joint sessions of Congress. With her snub of Israel, Vice President Harris is leading the Democrats' Bibi boycott.

Catering to the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party is not serious leadership--not at all.

The Vice President now wants to be Commander in Chief of the United States of America. Yet she refuses to put politics aside and work with our indispensable ally. Her actions send a defeatist message--a defeatist message to our enemies and a defeatist message to our allies alike.

This is a time when it is so critical for us to restore confidence in America. Here is what we need to do and how to do it: You do it with peace through strength, with strong, steady, and serious support for Israel and for Israel's right to exist.

What is the approach of President Biden today? What is the approach of Vice President Harris? What is the approach of the Senate Democrats, Members of this body? Is it to continue to appease our adversaries and at the same time abandon our friends? This is a dangerous world. It is more dangerous under the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

America cannot continue down the Democrats' path of war and weakness. Keeping America safe requires that America and Israel work together. We heard that today in the joint session of Congress.

Republicans believe in Israel's mission to defeat Hamas. We understand fully what is at stake, and our support is firm. We must unite and bring back peace through strength.

Now more than ever, the American people need to stand with Israel, and I am one of those people who will continue to stand with Israel.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source