Reaffirming the State of Israel's Right to Exist
Floor Speech
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Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 888) reaffirming the State of Israel's right to exist.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows: H. Res. 888
Whereas the Jewish people are native to the Land of Israel;
Whereas throughout history and across the reign of multiple kingdoms, the Jewish people were persecuted and expelled from the Land of Israel, forced to live as minority diaspora communities in other lands;
Whereas Jewish diaspora communities were historically violently persecuted in, and in some cases expelled from, other countries throughout the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia due to their religion;
Whereas the Nazis attempted to annihilate the entire Jewish population of Europe during the Holocaust, murdering 6,000,000 Jews during this time;
Whereas this genocide provided new urgency to re-establish a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people following the Holocaust, where they would not be a vulnerable minority, where they could freely practice their faith, and where something like the Holocaust could never happen again;
Whereas the modern State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948;
Whereas even after the establishment of the State of Israel, other countries and terrorist entities continued to attack Israel, reject its right to exist, and call for its destruction; and
Whereas Israel is the only Jewish State, and therefore, despite persistent external threats, the existence of Israel provides Jews a place to live free from persecution and discrimination: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) reaffirms the State of Israel's right to exist;
(2) recognizes that denying Israel's right to exist is a form of antisemitism;
(3) rejects calls for Israel's destruction and the elimination of the only Jewish State; and
(4) condemns the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to urge the House to agree to my resolution that reaffirms Israel's fundamental right to exist.
This is a pretty simple and straightforward resolution. Israel has a right to exist. You either believe that or you don't. The American people should see very clearly whether or not the Members of Congress affirm Israel's right to exist.
President Harry Truman recognized Israel 11 minutes after its founding. America was the first country to recognize the State of Israel, and for good reason.
Over the last 75 years, Israel has become the greatest ally of the United States--our shared values, shared heritage. The relationship between our two Nations is unbreakable.
I fundamentally believe that the terrorist attacks of October 7 perpetrated by Hamas are about one thing: Hamas does not believe Israel has the right to exist. Hamas wants to eradicate the Jewish people from the face of the Earth. They say so.
Other bad actors like Hezbollah share that perspective. Iran, the greatest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, the backer and funder of Hamas, has been calling for the eradication of the State of Israel for millennia. They don't believe they have the right to exist.
This resolution seeks to reaffirm the commitment made by President Truman upon Israel's founding. We not only recognize Israel, we reaffirm Israel's fundamental right to exist.
In the wake of the horrific October 7 attacks on Israel, we saw Members of this body and other opponents of Israel call for the elimination of Israel. When they chant: ``From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,'' they mean that Israel will not exist.
I want Palestinians to be free. I want them to be free from their oppressors: Hamas and the Palestinian authority.
Hamas has used Palestinians as human shields even until today. As Israel prosecutes this war against this terrorist organization, Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields, camping out in hospitals and schools, launching missiles, shooting innocent civilians.
I watched in horror the 21-minute unedited, raw footage of the October 7 terrorist attack. Every Member of Congress was offered the opportunity to watch a 45-minute viewing of that attack.
Nearly half of Congress chose not to come, including some of the Members who have made it clear that they don't support Israel's right to exist.
On college campuses and city streets, we see people calling for an intifada, actively promoting the destruction of the Jewish state. Everyone has a right to say what they want about a foreign government, to say what they want about war, but they don't have the right to delegitimize the very existence of the Jewish state to justify terror.
The State of Israel was created 75 years ago to reestablish the native homeland of the Jewish people. For centuries, Jews were discriminated against and persecuted wherever they went. This culminated in the attempted genocide of European Jews during the Holocaust; 6 million Jews slaughtered.
This most recent genocide provides new urgency to reestablish the Jewish homeland where the Jewish people were displaced, and we wanted to create a homeland where they weren't a vulnerable minority, where they could freely practice their faith, and where something like the Holocaust could never happen again.
Yet, on October 7, we saw the largest slaughtering of Jews since the Holocaust. Yet, still today, many Jews view Israel as the safest place for them to live, even as rockets and missiles come from all sides.
Denying Israel's right to exist is denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination. It is denying the Jewish people's historic ties to the land. It is justifying war crimes against babies, and let's call it what it is, it is anti-Semitic.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this commonsense resolution that makes one thing fundamentally clear: Israel has a right to exist. Congress must never stop pushing back against Israel's opponents, and we must reject biased attempts to destroy our greatest ally.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 888 reaffirming the State of Israel's right to exist.
I thank my good friend from New York, Mike Lawler, for introducing this timely, extremely important, and ever-necessary resolution.
Mr. Speaker, Israel is the only state in the world whose fundamental right to exist is openly denied by other states. Some of them, including Iran, even call for Israel's complete destruction and support transnational terrorist organizations to work toward its demise.
It is also the only state in the world whose fundamental right to exist is constantly undermined and challenged by intergovernmental organizations, such as and most shamefully of all, the United Nations.
The anti-Semitism motivating those who deny Israel's right to exist is apparent, but it is important to connect, as this resolution does, the denial of Israel's right to exist, to anti-Semitism, and to connect them both as enabling causes to the monstrous crimes Hamas has unleashed on Israel.
Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, anti-Semitic bigotry is at the root of the U.N.'s hostility toward Israel, which is ugly, evil, and manifests itself at almost every U.N. entity.
On November 8, I chaired a hearing of my subcommittee, and we called it United Nations' Bigotry Towards Israel.
We heard expert testimony from Hillel Neuer, the executive director of U.N. Watch; and Jonathan Schanzer, the senior vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Hillel Neuer testified: ``Teachers and schools at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which runs education and social services for Palestinians, regularly call to murder Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis, and incite anti-Semitism.''
He further said: ``In 2022 alone, UNRWA received $344 million in U.S. funding. Yet, a March 2023 report by U.N. Watch and Impact-SE identified 133 UNRWA educators and staff who were found to promote hate and violence on social media, and an additional 82 teachers and other staff affiliated with 30 UNRWA schools who were involved in drafting and distributing hateful content to their students.''
That is just the tip of the iceberg.
Jonathan Schanzer testified that: ``The U.N. doesn't recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization. Nor does it recognize Hezbollah either. That means U.N. resources can be and regularly are provided to members of those terrorist groups.''
Mr. Speaker, according to the great human rights defender, Nathan Sharansky's famous 3-D test for anti-Semitism, which he articulated at a hearing that I chaired way back in 2004, criticism of Israel is nothing less than anti-Semitic when it passes over into the demonization of Jews and Israel, delegitimizes the Jewish state, or applies double standards; that is, one standard for Israel, and another for every other country on Earth.
That is what many U.N. entities and agencies do every single day.
Yesterday, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the JTA, reported on the latest example of the double standard and said: ``Nearly 50 days after Hamas' attack on Israel left 1,200 dead, and after weeks of criticism over its silence about allegations of sexual violence during the attack, the women's rights group, U.N. Women, issued a statement condemning the terror group on Friday.
Then it deleted the post.''
Here is what it said originally:
`` `We condemn the brutal attack by Hamas on October 7 and continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,' read the initial statement posted on U.N. Women's Instagram page.
It was soon replaced with a statement that dropped the condemnation of Hamas and only called for the release of hostages.''
Mr. Speaker, there are so many examples.
In 2022, the U.N. General Assembly targeted Israel in a total of 15 harshly critical resolutions, compared to 13 country-specific resolutions for the entire world: China, North Korea, Iran; 13 for all of them combined, 15 for Israel.
In large measure, it is because of the U.N., which unquestionably is the world's foremost legitimizer of anti-Semitism, that it remains necessary, 75 years after the founding of the great State of Israel, to reaffirm its right to exist.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague from New York, and my friend from Florida, for authoring this important resolution.
It should be clear by now to each and every Member of this body on both sides of the aisle and every American that Israel has a right to exist. This sentiment is unequivocal and is a critical point to unequivocally voice now in our ally's time of need.
Harry Truman recognized the State of Israel 11 minutes after its founding. For 75 years, the United States and Israel have had a special bond. Israel is the only multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious democracy in the Middle East. It is a beacon of hope, of freedom, and of opportunity.
If anyone in this body believes that they do not have the right to exist, please explain to us and the American people what nation does.
This is a simple vote, and every Member should be on record in support of Israel's right to exist. If they cannot muster the courage to support Israel's right to exist at this moment, they don't belong in Congress, period.
This is a simple vote, and I encourage all of my colleagues to stand with Israel, to defend and reaffirm their very right to exist, and to defend the right of the Jewish people to practice their faith.
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Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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