{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=D2C51929-A40B-40B7-A23D-DC6E82D55090", "VIDEO: Fischer Condemns Brutal Hamas Attack, Urges Support for Israel in Senate Floor Speech", "2023-10-18", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Deb Fischer", "F000463", "www.fischer.senate.gov", "fischer", "https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "\u201cIf We Can\u2019t Stand Up Against This, What Can We Stand Against?\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke on the Senate floor this week about the brutal Hamas attack against Israel and the importance of America\u2019s continued support for the people of Israel. In her remarks, Senator Fischer stressed the importance of deterring Iran and other countries seeking to take advantage of the situation and further destabilize the region.\n\nClick the image above to watch video of Sen. Fischer\u2019s remarks\n\nClick here to download audio\n\nClick here to download video\n\nFollowing is a transcript of Senator Fischer\u2019s remarks as prepared for delivery:\n\nAlong with Americans all across our country, I am appalled at what has happened in Israel over the past week. It\u2019s hard to watch the brutality of Hamas\u2019s attack on Israel. It\u2019s hard to believe that the terror Hamas perpetrated is something human beings are capable of doing.\n\nLast week, Hamas militants stormed the Israel-Gaza border in a despicable, deadly attack against Israeli civilians. Men and women, children and the elderly, Israelis and foreigners, Americans \u2014 Hamas killed person after person with no regard for human dignity.\n\nThe militants seized and kidnapped almost 200 hostages, including many of our own American citizens.\n\nWhen civilians in small Israeli towns came out of hiding \u2014 sheltering for their lives and praying that they would be spared \u2014 they came out to find corpses in their streets. Doors riddled with bullet holes. The ground stained with human blood. Houses burning and collapsing.\n\nThey\u2019ve told journalists the horror they felt when they stepped out into the wreckage and were met with the smell of decaying flesh.\n\nThis is obscene. This is hideous. We can and should all agree on that. Secretary of State Blinken, on his visit to Israel, said he saw images of a baby covered in bullet holes, soldiers who\u2019d been beheaded, and people burned alive in their cars.\n\nHe said: \u201cImages are worth a thousand words. These images may be worth a million.\u201d\n\nHow do we respond to such a tragedy? Not only are these actions depraved and inhumane \u2014 they\u2019ve been perpetrated against one of our closest partners in the world.\n\nHamas\u2019s goal in this attack, its goal in kidnapping babies and elderly women, was to shock Israel to the core, bring it to its knees, so that vicious terrorist groups could get the upper hand \u2014 Hamas from the west, and now Hezbollah from the north.\n\nM. President, Hamas and Hezbollah will not get the upper hand. Israel will defend its sovereignty and its people \u2014 standing tall \u2014 and we will support them.\n\nNow is not the time for the United States to shrink back from the world stage and let Israel stand in isolation.\n\nWe must stand up against terror. We must stand up against the kidnapping of little babies. We must stand up against the rape and torture of innocent civilians. We must stand up against those who would grasp at political power by committing war crimes.\n\nIf we can\u2019t stand up against this, what can we stand against?\n\nAnd in response to this terror, we must stand with Israel. In response to a brutal attack on its sovereign territory, we must stand with Israel. In response to the heinous massacre of its citizens, we must stand with Israel. In response to violations of the laws of war, we must stand with Israel.\n\nIsrael has the right and the responsibility to defend itself against this unconscionable aggression. We must provide its government with the support it needs to defend its territory and its citizenry. We must take steps that allow Israel to regain its footing and make the difficult decisions it needs to make as a sovereign nation.\n\nThe United States and Israel are bound by shared values and strategic interests. And we are now further bound by shared tragedy. Hamas has American blood on its hands after this attack. Some of our own citizens are being held hostage underground in Gaza. We must act to show terrorist groups, and their close friend Iran, that we will not abide the slaughter and kidnapping of Americans.\n\nAs a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, I am working with my colleagues and the administration to ensure that the United States is able to provide Israel with the support and resources it needs to eliminate this threat.\n\nOur allies and partners, as well as our adversaries, are closely watching how our country will respond to Hamas\u2019s loathsome attack. Our actions should encourage allies and partners to follow suit in supporting Israel and denouncing this terrorism. And our actions must deter our adversaries from taking advantage of the volatility in the Middle East and to further destabilize the region.\n\nOur focus in the region must turn to one adversary in particular: Iran. The Iranian regime bankrolls terrorist activity throughout the Middle East. Iran has provided Hamas with the weapons it uses against Israel. The regime directly supports Hezbollah, the group barraging Israel from across the border in Lebanon.\n\nFor the time I have served in the Senate, I\u2019ve supported efforts to curb Iran\u2019s incessant attempts to sow chaos in the Middle East. Today, those attempts are coming to a head. We need to gather all of our economic and diplomatic strength to send a strong message to Iran.\n\nCountering Iran will help Israel, but it will advance American interests as well. Iran is hellbent on destroying the United States. Its proxy forces continue to attack our forces regularly in Iraq and Syria. The risks are too great to allow Iran to accelerate this conflict.\n\nMy Republican colleagues and I sent a letter last week urging President Biden to immediately convene the G7 nations and take coordinated action to isolate Iran using severe sanctions.\n\nOur letter also called on the president to reverse a decision allowing Iran access to a six-billion-dollar fund, which had previously been frozen under sanctions. We urged President Biden to instead lead America\u2019s partners and allies in securing agreements from as many nations as possible \u2014 agreements to take the most severe economic and diplomatic action possible under the law against Iran.\n\nThe U.S. must lead in imposing multilateral sanctions against Iran, and continue to lead in making certain these sanctions are enforced.\n\nThis week, my colleagues and I introduced legislation that would revoke that six billion-dollar fund. The United States must not allow funding to flow to state sponsors of terrorism.\n\nAs Americans, we must come together in a bipartisan manner to keep terrorism in check and stand with our ally Israel. I call on my colleagues in Congress, as well as the administration and people across our country, to continue to unequivocally condemn the evil acts committed by Hamas, Hezbollah, and their primary sponsor, Iran.\n\nWe must stand together to support Israel and protect both Americans and Israelis being harmed by the conflict and bloodshed in the Middle East.\n\nThank you, M. President, I yield the floor.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:43:12Z"]], "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.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=D2C51929-A40B-40B7-A23D-DC6E82D55090"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.798287034034729, "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"}