WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) delivered remarks on the Senate floor strongly supporting Israel and calling for the complete extermination of Hamas terrorists.
Read excerpts from the speech below or watch here.
“Today, there are protests happening here at the Capitol, right here on Capitol Hill. The appropriations hearings with Secretary Austin and Secretary Blinken have been repeatedly every few minutes interrupted by left wing pro-Hamas protesters. Pro-Hamas leftists shut down a building in the House just a couple weeks ago – shut it down. Now they want to shut down the Appropriations committee.
Many of these groups are funded by Democrat dark money groups. These left-wing groups are calling for a ceasefire over in Gaza. This is like calling for a ceasefire after Pearl Harbor, as some of the leaders in Israel have said. To me, a ceasefire is a surrender. A ceasefire means Hamas gets to kill civilians without any consequences after what they did on October the seventh. Every single Democrat in the Senate needs to condemn these left-wing groups. Everybody, we all need to condemn these groups. The left is making excuses for these terrorists.
It’s immoral and it’s un-American what’s going on across our country and with these protests. We need to ensure that terrorists never ever attack anybody like this again. This requires again wiping off Hamas from the map. And as you listen to the Israeli leaders, that’s exactly what they plan to do. Israel’s going to be able to do this. They’re going to be able to do it themselves. They’re not going to need our help. But they will need supplies. We need to ensure that they have what they need to wipe Hamas off from existence. I support sending Israel more weapons if they need them.
But unfortunately, there’s already an effort to tie Israel funding to Ukraine funding right here in this building. President Biden sent over a request for a supplemental funding bill just this past weekend. It includes fourteen billion dollars for Israel. But it also includes sixty billion for Ukraine. That’s two hundred and thirty million dollars a day. That’s four times as much for Ukraine than it is for Israel. The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with the war in Israel. Israel is our number one ally – sometimes we forget that. Ukraine is not our number one ally. They’re not even in NATO.
The war in Israel is about killing terrorists who want to kill not only people in countries like Israel, but also Americans. There’s no reason Ukraine and Israel aid need to be in the same bill. I’m against that. I’m for funding Israel first and foremost. So, we need to vote on them separately. We ought to support Israel, and we need to supply Israel. We need to stand there with them as they take on the terrorists.”
BACKGROUND:
Senator Tuberville stands unequivocally with Israel and believes the lives tragically lost are a result of Joe Biden’s appeasement of Iran. Joe Biden has let Iran off the hook by loosening sanctions, attempting to re-enter the Iran Nuclear Deal, and, most recently, negotiating $6 billion to Iran. Joe Biden’s appeasement of Iran has only emboldened them to work with Hamas to orchestrate terrorist attacks against our closest ally in the Middle East.
Last week, Coach Tuberville joined legislation to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel. Coach Tuberville also recently wrote an op-ed and sent a letter on the importance of separating Israel aid from Ukraine aid.
In the wake of the terror attacks, Coach cosponsored the Revoke Iranian Funding Act to freeze the $6 billion in funding the Biden administration released to Iran at the bank in Qatar where it is currently being held. This would ensure these dollars are not used by Iran to promote terrorism against Israel or any other nation.
Coach also cosponsored the Emergency Resupply for IRON DOME Act of 2023, a bill to authorize the Executive Branch to redirect U.S. foreign assistance away from Hamas-controlled Gaza and instead to help Israel replenish its Iron Dome, which has been highly effective in intercepting rockets and saving lives.
Coach also joined legislation to cut U.S. funds to the antisemitic United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The UNRWA has a history of employing individuals affiliated with Hamas, an Iranian-backed, U.S.- designated terrorist organization. Additionally, UNRWA schools have been used to store Hamas weapons and promote anti-Semitic education in their textbooks.
Coach also joined his colleagues in calling on President Joe Biden to enforce existing law and revoke the visas of foreign nationals who endorse or espouse activity in support of Hamas or other Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
Coach also joined at least thirty of his colleagues this week in sending a letter to President Biden asking him to prioritize rescuing American hostages that were taken by Hamas during its attacks on Israel and to support Israel’s efforts to wipe out Hamas.
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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