{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-delivers-address-on-war-in-israel", "Sen. Cruz Delivers Address on War in Israel", "2023-10-18", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "TX", "Ted Cruz", "C001098", "www.cruz.senate.gov", "cruz", "https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) delivered a major foreign policy speech on the Senate floor today calling for the U.S. to provide Israel with full military and diplomatic support in their campaign to eradicate Hamas, for as long as it takes. Sen. Cruz\u2019s remarks follow the horrific attack led by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists on October 7, which resulted in the killing of more than 1,400 innocent Israelis and 30 Americans. The attack on Israel was the largest mass murder of the Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust. In his speech, Sen. Cruz called for the United States to unequivocally support our Israeli allies as the Israel-Hamas war rages in the Gaza Strip.\n\nDuring his speech Sen. Cruz said, \u201cThis fight is barbarism against civilization, good versus evil. The differences between the two sides are as stark as darkness and light. The light and goodness will prevail if we stand with Israel.\u201d\n\nWatch the speech here.\n\nSee excerpts from Sen. Cruz\u2019s floor speech below:\n\n\u201cIn the face of this evil, Israel must and Israel will defend herself. America\u2019s policy should be absolutely unequivocal: to ensure Israel has the military and diplomatic support to utterly eradicate Hamas, for as long as it takes.\n\n\u201cI want to repeat that last part: For. As. Long. As. It. Takes.\n\n\u201cI will do everything in my power and use every resource at my disposal to ensure that is indeed America\u2019s policy.\n\n\u2026\n\n\u201cThis is a battle between good and evil, and anyone who draws a moral equivalency between Hamas and Israel is lying.\n\n\u201cThis is an existential fight for Israel. As Golda Meir once said, quote: \u2018If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons, there would be no more Israel.\u2019\n\n\u201cHamas uses human shields as standard practice. Israel does everything it can to minimize civilian casualties.\n\n\u2026\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration\u2019s ideological, partisan reaction day after day to all of this is tragic.. They see these terrorist attacks and their immediate reaction is \u2018I hope Israel doesn\u2019t respond by killing the terrorists too much.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhy? Well, because I think at least some in the Biden administration feel a need to appeal to the radical left-wing base, which includes BLM, which includes the Democratic Socialists of America, which includes the antisemitic Squad in the House, as well as woke university students at Harvard, who, in the aftermath of Hamas\u2019 attack, blamed Israel. These organizations, these elite universities, sadly, had become venomous pits of antisemitism and hatred for Israel.\n\n\u2026\n\n\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t just money to Iran that went to Hamas. The Biden administration also poured money into Hamas areas directly. As soon as they came into office, the Biden administration began flooding money into the Gaza Strip.\n\n\u201cAt the same time that [I] urged the administration don\u2019t fund Gaza because it\u2019ll fund Hamas terrorism, 145 House Democrats sent a letter to the Biden administration saying do fund Gaza, even though it will fund Hamas terrorism.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-delivers-address-on-war-in-israel"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3965042307972908, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}