It’s been more than six months since October 7. The whole world was shaken as a flood, as they actually called it, an Al-Aqsa Flood, of Hamas terrorists came through the wall separating Gaza and Israel in multiple places. Over the next several hours they murdered 1,200 Israelis. They took 253 hostages, including Americans. One hundred thirty-three are still hostages today.
Over Easter, I spent a few days in Israel. I met with multiple Israeli senior leaders, and talked to people in different parts of Israel to see the effects of this war. I made it clear when I was in Israel: the people of the United States see the people of Israel.
I traveled to the southern tip of Israel, along the border with Egypt, to discuss the relationship between Israel and Egypt. I spent a few hours at the Nova Festival site where hundreds of young Israelis were murdered at an outdoor concert. I traveled to the Kibbutz on the border with Gaza that is now vacant, empty, and devastated, where hundreds of people lived just a few months ago and now every building has bullet holes or has been burned and destroyed. When they were attacked, it was 6:30 in the morning on a Jewish holiday and on the Sabbath. Many of the residents were still asleep when a group of Hamas terrorists came into their homes and murdered many in that village and took many hostages.
We traveled to northern Israel, to visit with some of the mayors right along the border with Syria and Lebanon. Towns are evacuated there because people can’t survive the onslaught of artillery fire from Lebanon.
The world watched when 330 drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles were fired at Israel from Iran. However, that attack was only a small part of the 12,000 rockets and missiles that have been fired at Israel since October 7. Of those, multiple have been fired from Yemen, 9,100 were fired at civilians in Israel from Gaza, 3,100 of them have been launched by Hezbollah terrorists from Lebanon, and 35 of them were fired from Syria.
Iran and its terrorist regime have funded or supported all of the missile attacks on Israel and US forces in the region in the past six months. The Iranian regime is the biggest problem in the region because they pull the strings on all of the violent terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and they also hate America. We do not have an issue with the Iranian people; we have an issue with Iran’s aggressive, terrorist regime. The Senate finally passed significant new sanctions on the Iranian regime as a part of the aid package for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. We should use any leverage we have to isolate the Iranian economy to put pressure on their regime. Leader Schumer wants a change of leadership in Israel while they’re in the middle of a war, I want a change in leadership in Iran.
We also cannot allow the Iranian regime to spew their hatred on US soil. Last week, the Iranian foreign minister flew to the U.S. to speak to a group of people at the UN, and the Biden Administration gave him a visa. I called on Secretary Blinken to block the visa of someone who was a leading voice for the October 7 attack, and a member of the IRGC terror organization in Iran. Why would we give someone a platform to attack America and our ally Israel while he stands on American soil?
We should be clear on who we support—those bringing peace or those bringing violence and hatred.
Let’s pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but let’s also stand by her.
I believe the U.S. should continue to stand by our friend and ally, Israel.
I believe the US should stand with Israel.
Two Major Votes In the past few days, the Senate has addressed multiple issues that need some facts to go with all the fiction online.
I supported the bill to provide assistance to our allies and to stand against international terrorism. During Passover week, activists screamed hatred at Jewish students at multiple elite American universities. Their antisemitic protests caused several schools to cancel classes for the rest of the semester. While the protests raged, the Senate held a vote on American support for Israel to determine if our nation stood with the protestors or with Israel. I chose to stand with Israel. The aid bill increased sanctions on the Iranian regime, provided military support to Israel and humanitarian assistance to the civilians in Gaza.
The bill also provided military assistance to Ukraine and Taiwan, who are both facing threats from communist or socialist dictatorships. Ronald Reagan spent his presidency working to break up the Soviet Union and to isolate communism and socialism. Now, the leadership of Russia is working to reconstitute the old Soviet empire while the leadership of China continues to expand its dictatorial control over its neighbors.