Hamas

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I want to thank my good friend for yielding and thank him for his leadership and his very eloquent remarks just a few moments ago on Hamas terrorism and the fact that we need to do much more than we have, to try to mitigate, end, and disarm this organization that is committed to the demise of the State of Israel.

Hamas, Mr. Speaker, as we all know, is a terrorist organization, and as Netanyahu put it so well, it is like al Qaeda, and it is just like Boko Haram. They kill people, they murder, they rape, they abduct, and they do all kinds of terrible terrorist activities in order to promote their ends.

Yesterday, Khaled Mashal, leader of Hamas, spoke to Charlie Rose, who asked: Do you want to coexist with the State of Israel? The Hamas leader said in a completely matter-of-fact manner, ``No.''

It is clear, Mr. Speaker, that Hamas doesn't want peace, reconciliation, or coexistence. Hamas seeks only the total demise of Israel.

I would like to quote, Mr. Speaker, briefly from the Hamas Charter, and I encourage Members of this body, Americans, and people around the world to read the Hamas Charter.

Article 13 says:

Initiatives and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.

It gets even worse, Mr. Speaker. Article 20 obscenely compares Israeli society with Nazism. Article 28 charges so-called Zionism with massive conspiracy which ``aims at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character, and annihilating Islam.''

Article 32 charges that the plan of the so-called Zionist is embodied in one of the greatest libels of all human history, the ``Protocols of the Elders of Zion.''

All of this, Mr. Speaker, recalls Natan Sharansky's ``3-D test of anti-Semitism,'' which he called demonization, double standards, and delegitimization.

Sharansky twice testified in hearings that I chaired on combating anti-Semitism and proposed what he called the simple test to help us distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism.

As he put it, the three Ds are, again, demonization--he said:

When Israel's actions are blown out of all sensible proportion; when comparisons are made between Israelis and Nazis, this is anti-Semitism, not legitimate criticism of Israel.

Second, the double standard:

When criticism of Israel is applied selectively, when Israel is singled out by the United Nations for human rights abuses while the behavior of known and major abusers, such as China, Iran, Cuba, and Syria is ignored, this is anti-Semitism.

The third D, delegitimization, as he puts it:

When Israel's fundamental right to exist is denied--alone among all peoples in the world--this, too, is anti-Semitism.

This, too, is exactly what Hamas is engaged in. From its origins to the present day, the Hamas movement has been poisoned by anti-Semitism, and the murderous nature of this evil has not diminished. It has got worse. Jews today continue to die because of it.

Five IDF soldiers were killed yesterday, 48 have died since July 8, and of course, we are deeply saddened by these deaths, as well as all who have died in the conflict, and we must not forget that it is anti-Semitic hatred that is driving this conflict and causing all of these deaths.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I call on President Obama to give Israel our government's full support and to make unmistakably clear our government's position that Israel, in response to Hamas' unprovoked attacks, is fully in the right to defend itself, including to search out and destroy Hamas terror tunnels and those who launch rockets at Israel.

Again, I thank my good friend, Mr. Franks, for his leadership and, again, for his strong and eloquent statement earlier on, during the Special Order on Hamas.

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