Israel

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, tomorrow, the Capitol will welcome Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the democratically elected leader of America's closest ally in the Middle East to address a joint meeting of Congress for the fourth time.

It is a pivotal moment for the United States-Israel alliance and for Israel's war against savage Iran-backed terrorists. This is an existential conflict for Israel, but it is also a test of America's reliability and a challenge to the entire free world.

I look forward to hearing the Prime Minister's remarks. Unfortunately, some of the leaders who could learn the most from the experience of the battle-tested, duly elected leader of a sovereign democracy apparently will not be among us.

The Vice President, who traditionally presides over joint sessions of Congress, apparently can't spare the time to demonstrate even symbolic support for the only democracy in the Middle East.

Of course, Israel deserves more than symbolism. It deserves the time, space, and material support to guarantee its security and defeat the terrorists who started this war.

But no matter how many times I say it, no matter how many of our colleagues affirm Israel's right to exist, no matter how sternly the President insists his commitment to Israel is ``ironclad,'' America's actions speak otherwise.

The administration's policy toward Israel has often compounded the challenges our ally faces. It has withheld critical military assistance and tried to micromanage Israel's military operations.

Washington Democrats have struggled to forcefully condemn the scourge of anti-Semitism and terrorist sympathy running rampant across university campuses and throughout the American left.

Instead, they have indulged the mob, engaging in grotesquely hypocritical efforts to meddle in Israeli domestic politics and call for the removal of its democratically elected leader. And this is just in the past 9 months that the Commander in Chief's failure to deter enemies of Israel and America is a debacle years in the making. The chaos fomented by Iran and its proxies across the Middle East is no surprise when you consider the seeds this administration has sown:

Desperation to return to a failed nuclear deal told Iran that it, once again, held leverage over America. Rescinding the Houthis' terrorist designation told Iran-backed groups that America isn't serious about imposing consequences for their savage violence. A humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan invited allies and adversaries alike to question America's competence and America's resolve. Failure to respond decisively to Iran-backed strikes against American personnel, interests, and partners across the region told the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism that the world's only superpower was unwilling to act like one.

Today, America and our partners are reaping the consequences of the Biden administration's weakness. This weekend's deadly strike in Tel- Aviv was the latest in more than 200 Houthi attacks on Israeli soil since October 7. Is it merely a coincidence that this attack landed just yards from a U.S. diplomatic facility?

The same terrorists are holding global commerce hostage in the Red Sea and happily trading thousand-dollar drones for million-dollar U.S. Navy interceptors.

They have concluded--correctly, it seems--that waging war on America and our interests is a low-cost proposition. And this isn't the calculus of some autonomous terrorists. We are talking about a campaign coordinated by the master terrorists in Tehran. As one Hezbollah field commander told a reporter recently, ``The Iranians want us to escalate, so we are escalating. . . . The Iranians control every bullet we have.''

The sworn enemies of the Great Satan and the Little Satan are emboldened. They are wreaking havoc on America and Israel for pennies on the dollar. And they are working with Russia, China, and North Korea to challenge the American-led order all around the world.

Just as core U.S. interests are at stake in Russia's war against Ukraine, they are at stake in the Middle East as well. Tomorrow, as on numerous occasions in our history, Congress will hear from a close friend of America on the frontlines against this global effort to undermine the American-led order.

Prime Minister Netanyahu deserves our attention, and Israel deserves a friend that lives up to the name.

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