Motion to Discharge--S. Res. 504
Floor Speech
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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, on October 7, Israel suffered a horrific terrorist attack by Hamas. It echoes very much the impact that we felt here in America on 9/11 when we suffered a horrific terrorist attack, and it connected our hearts to the hearts of Israelis in a powerful way. And, certainly, I completely supported and support now the cause of Israel to go after Hamas to stop this terrorist threat. I fully support the grief they feel with the hostages who remain and their desire, their goal, to get those hostages free, and I know that the United States has been working in partnership with Israel toward that objective.
Tonight, we are further into that campaign, and we have before us a request for a report from the administration through the exercise of 502B(c) on any potential violations of internationally recognized human rights that may have occurred in this conflict--a request for a report that would be due in 30 days.
And I am here tonight still supporting strongly Israel's right to go after Hamas, but also saying that we have a responsibility to ask hard questions about how a war is conducted--every war. And we weigh in on human rights all around the world.
I cochair a commission that looks into China's abuses of human rights in all kinds of dimensions, from Tibet to the slavery of the Uighur population.
So why is this request for this information important? There are three reasons. They all relate to the validity of targeting Hamas but the invalidity--potential invalidity--of a strategy that also targets the Palestinian people living in Gaza and understanding this dimension, understanding it in terms of humanitarian aid, understanding it in terms of the huge toll on civilians that the bombing has taken, understanding it in terms of the dimension of displacement, where so many--so many--have been displaced, driven toward the south, crowded into Rafah, along the border with Egypt. So I am going to shortly address--briefly address--each of those.
I was one of the first Members of this Chamber to call for an immediate cease-fire and a massive influx of humanitarian aid because of the enormous calamity that is occurring in Gaza with the strategy that Israel is using of mass bombing and artillery shells. One aspect of this is: How does one get humanitarian aid in to assist those innocent civilians who have been so profoundly impacted?
So, earlier this month, Senator Van Hollen and I went to the Rafah crossing on the border between Egypt and Gaza. We talked to the governments. We talked to the international aid workers who work through the United Nations--an alphabet soup of organizations. We talked to the seasoned, seasoned individuals who have worked in war conflict zones around this globe, and they all said that getting humanitarian aid in is extraordinarily difficult for two reasons. And the first of those reasons was that it is very hard to get preclearance for the aid.
Trucks filled with food, water, and medical supplies were lined up for miles in the desert, waiting to be granted entry into Gaza. A truckdriver can wait more than a week, even when items are preapproved, to get through the inspection.
The inspection serves the purpose of stopping dual-use items. That is legitimate. But if it takes a week when aid is desperately needed, that means people are greatly short of food, clean water, and medical supplies.
And even when inspected and precleared, they could be rejected, and when an item is rejected, the entire truck is rejected. And we saw a warehouse filled with rejected items, including things like solar- powered refrigerators for medical uses and water decontamination supplies.
And then, if trucks are cleared to get in, it is very hard for them to get in unless there is deconfliction. If there isn't deconfliction, then the drivers risk driving and dying when a bomb or artillery shell drops in their path. And, in fact, so many aid workers have been killed and truckdrivers have been killed.
We know that, before the war, 500 trucks a day were able to get into Gaza. And now, just last week, it was less than an average of 150 trucks when people are absolutely desperate.
So there is the possibility and the hope of the United States working intensely with Israel to dramatically change this situation and to get those trucks into Gaza. But there is also the value of having a report from our government, understanding to which degree they have already worked with Israel.
Mr. President, I ask to complete the balance of my remarks.
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Mr. MERKLEY. Thank you.
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Mr. MERKLEY. An estimate of 5 minutes.
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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, so our government should work to solve this problem. We have been working to solve it--so having a report announced by our government: to what degree these strategies of a dysfunctional inspection process and a dysfunctional deconfliction process are a part of a deliberate strategy to create and intensify the shortage of food and water and medical assistance.
The second concern I have is about the bombing and artillery shells which our President has described as an indiscriminate campaign of bombing. We all understand that this terrible attack from Hamas--and Hamas is the enemy. But the Palestinians who live in Gaza and are not part of Hamas, they did not attack Israel. They are not the enemy, and thus it is essential that Netanyahu's government's war strategy against Hamas actually targets Hamas and not innocent Palestinians.
It is estimated that two-thirds of the people killed--two-thirds killed--have been women and children. That is some 8,000 children and 8,000 women. It is a massive toll.
So a report under 502B(c) would be valuable in understanding this strategy. And we are closely tied to it, which is another reason we should want this information. We have supplied over 10,000 tons of military equipment since October 7. We have included 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells.
It would be useful to have our own government analyze this and understand why we are supplying the very weapons that our government has said Israel should quit using and do a more targeted campaign.
That is the goal of 502B(c): to get a report, to get answers.
My third concern is the displacement. The widespread bombing has produced some 85 percent of the people displaced in Gaza. A leaked Israeli Intelligence Ministry paper said that there are three options, and option C is the preferred option, involving an air campaign in the north, driving people to the south, hopefully displacing them into the Sinai. That has a spooky similarity to the facts on the ground.
And, of course, such a displacement strategy has been called out by some Ministers of the Israeli Government, one of them calling for exactly that strategy, saying: We want a Gazan Nakba, that people will not be able to return.
So we have a government paper. We have the testimony by Ministry officials that that was their goal.
Is that their goal? The Government of Israel has now adamantly said that is not their goal.
That is useful to have our government's best understanding because we should never be complicit in a displacement campaign, if that is, in fact, what is going on.
So, colleagues, we look at conditions around the world, and, normally, it is folks we have little relationship with--although sometimes we have a relationship with them, but it is an ``on and off again,'' like the situation we have with Saudi Arabia. In this situation, it is our friend and partner that we have worked so closely with, and it may feel awkward and difficult to say we need to take a close look.
But when there has been this level of casualties and we are this closely tied to it, it is the right thing to do to get the type of information that would come through this request. I encourage my colleagues to support it.
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