Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I stand again today in support of our great ally Israel. Israel is a vibrant democracy that supports capitalism, champions human rights, and holds free and open elections. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and Israel deserves our unwavering support.
Israel is surrounded by nations and terrorist groups that want it wiped off the face of the Earth. I saw this firsthand during my latest visit as Senator, which gave me a clear picture of Israel's proximity to its enemies--Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, and Iran.
At my last visit, I was about a half mile from the Gaza Strip and went to a kibbutz. What was shocking to me is that there were little children there instinctively raised that, whenever they would hear the sirens, they instinctively raised their hands because somebody is going to pick them up and get them to a bomb shelter. I think what they were telling me when I was there is they had 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter when the sirens went off, which said that Hamas was sending rockets. Also, they were told the story that Hamas was sending balloons with candy and explosives. So when the balloon would come down, if the children would touch it, it would explode. It is disgusting.
For 11 days last month, we saw rockets rain down on Israel. As we watched Hamas terrorists target innocent Israeli citizens, I thought about the families impacted by this evil. Think about a 5-year-old you know. They like to play games. They love their brothers and sisters, and they love their mom and dad. Well, a 5-year-old, just like the one you are thinking of, named Ido Avigal was killed as Hamas rockets indiscriminately just pounded Israel. His life was taken by Hamas terrorists. I have a 5-year-old grandson. I can't imagine life without him. I can't imagine what either of those families is going through right now.
Instead of coming together against this violence, we saw the Democrats turn their backs on Israel. I was proud to lead more than 30 of my colleagues in a resolution to support Israel in its right to defend itself against terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, it was blocked by Senate Democrats.
It was not so long ago that the Senate stood with Israel on a bipartisan basis. In 2014, when Israel was again subject to a barrage of rockets targeting innocent Israelis, then-Majority Leader Reid offered a resolution supporting Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas. Every single Senator voted to support Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas--not anymore. It is despicable that something as simple as reaffirming America's support for Israel no longer aligns with the priorities of the Democrat Party.
I have also joined in a resolution with Senator Cruz to approve the arm sales to Israel and the resolution with Senator Hawley to condemn the disturbing wave of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel actions in Congress, in the United States, and around the world. These reprehensible and disturbing acts must be swiftly condemned at every level and those responsible prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
President Biden's State Department recently said:
We're going to be working in partnership with the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority to `kind of' channel aid there in a manner that does its best to go to the people of Gaza.
The official went on to say:
As we've seen in life, as we all know in life, there are no guarantees, but we're going to do everything that we can to ensure that this assistance reaches the people who need it the most.
So the Biden administration can't guarantee that American taxpayer dollars aren't going to fund terrorists in Hamas? The Biden administration thinks it is OK to fund Hamas terrorists because ``in life there are no guarantees''? The Biden administration seems unbothered if some funding goes to the terrorists that killed Ido.
President Biden must do better. His administration must control where this money is going. Yes, we can make sure American tax dollars aren't funding terrorists. What we are hearing from the Biden administration is they simply won't take the time to do what it takes to guarantee that. This lack of accountability or concern is absolutely disgusting, and we should not allow it.
That is why I, along with Senators Joni Ernst, Cindy Hyde-Smith, and Mike Braun, introduced the Stop Taxpayer Funding of Hamas Act, which says that no funds will be authorized for the territory of Gaza until the President certifies to Congress that these funds can be spent without benefitting terrorist organizations.
The Stop Taxpayer Funding of Hamas Act also ensures U.S. funds are not authorized for expenditure in the territory of Gaza to any United Nations entity or office that the President cannot certify is not encouraging or teaching anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ideas and propaganda.
Recently, a European Union report was released showing Palestinian Authority textbooks in U.N.-supported schools encourage violence against Israelis, including anti-Semitic messages. And just last week, a tunnel reportedly dug by Hamas was found underneath a Gaza school run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
We can't allow this to continue. I am proud to lead my colleagues in saying the United States will not fund this destruction.
I yield to my colleague from Iowa, Senator Joni Ernst.
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. And I yield to my colleague from Mississippi, Senator Hyde-Smith
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I want to thank my colleagues from Iowa and Mississippi for supporting me today in our effort to make sure that we do not ever fund Hamas.
I hope every single Member in this body can agree that the United States shouldn't fund terrorists with American taxpayer dollars-- funding that could be used to kill Israelis--like I do. I look forward to my colleagues joining me today to stand with Israel and against terrorism.
Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1899 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President.
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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I am glad my colleague has acknowledged his interest in helping Israel. Unfortunately, I am surprised that the--if my colleague had an interest, why didn't the Foreign Relations Committee take up the same resolution that the majority leader retook up in support of Israel basically saying that Israel had the right to defend itself and saying that Hamas was a terrorist organization? My colleague didn't.
This is a pretty simple bill. It basically just says, look, any foreign aid we are going to give to the Palestinian Authority, we are going to make sure it doesn't go to Hamas. It is pretty simple.
Let's remember why we are doing this. President Biden's State Department said:
We're going to be working in partnership with the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority to kind of channel aid there in a manner that does its best to go to the people of Gaza.
That should scare us.
It went on to say:
As we have seen in life, as we all know in life, there are no guarantees, but we're going to do everything that we can to ensure that this assistance reaches the people who need it the most.
That is not much of a guarantee. That is a ``maybe we will try.'' We can do better. The Senate should do better. Republicans and Democrats should all say that not a dime will ever go to Hamas, a terrorist organization that kills little boys like Ido. We should all be disgusted with this.
So I am very disappointed that my colleague uses a procedural matter to say he objects, but basically what he is saying is he will not agree that this money will not go to Hamas. This was really simple. You could read this in just 2 minutes.
I am disappointed that my Democratic colleague has made this political. It is not political. It is about, do we support Israel? Are we going to make sure that never a dime goes to Hamas and another little boy like Ido dies?
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