{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A82FE615-5011-4E73-B8CC-0FD1F6018E44", "Graham Leads Press Conference In Tel Aviv", "2023-10-22", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SC", "Lindsey Graham", "G000359", "www.lgraham.senate.gov", "graham", "https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today led a press conference with a bipartisan Senate delegation in Tel Aviv, Israel.\n\nMembers of the bipartisan delegation include U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and John Thune (R-South Dakota).\n\nFollowing is a transcript of Senator Graham\u2019s opening remarks.\n\n\u201cThank you all. Ten percent of the United States Senate is in Israel. Ten percent of the United States Senate is in Israel because we care. Five Republicans and five Democrats. If I had a bigger plane, we probably would have brought the entire Senate.\n\n\u201cTo our friends in Israel, we stand with you without apology, unequivocal.\n\n\u201cI come here because I love Israel. I do not hate Palestinians. I hate Hamas. I know the difference.\n\n\u201cThe goal going forward is to take from this horror and try to make this a better world. I saw things today that I didn\u2019t think were possible in 2023. I\u2019ve seen grown men who\u2019ve been fighting wars all of their lives be stunned by what they saw. The level of barbaric behavior here is beyond my ability to explain it.\n\n\u201cWhat does Hamas mean in English? ISIS.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot traveling the world with my friends and my late friend John McCain. I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime.\n\n\u201cHow does this end? Israel thrives, they survive. Hamas is destroyed. The Palestinian people have a better life. That\u2019s how this has to end.\n\n\u201cSo we\u2019re here today to give Israel what they need to do the job of destroying the modern day version of Nazis, Hamas. We\u2019re here today to tell Iran, we\u2019re watching you. If this war grows, it\u2019s coming to your backyard. There won\u2019t be two fronts, there will be three.\n\n\u201cIf there\u2019s an effort to unleash Hezbollah on the Jewish State to destroy it, my attention will be to Tehran. If these innocent hostages get slaughtered, I hold you, Iran, accountable because you could stop it if you chose to.\n\n\u201cThe idea that this happened without Iranian involvement is laughable. Ninety three percent of the [Hamas] budget over decades, their training, the equipment, all coming from the Ayatollah.\n\n\u201cI come here to let Israel know that America will be with you. I come here to let the Arab world know, let\u2019s make peace if we can. Destroying Hamas is non-negotiable. How we do it? Let\u2019s talk.\n\n\u201cWhat is winning? For the terrorist organization [Hamas] to be destroyed. For the people of Israel to have a sense of peace they\u2019ve lost. For the Palestinian people to have hope they don\u2019t have. And for the Arabs and the Israelis to end a conflict that would make the world better.\n\n\u201cWhy now? You\u2019ll never convince me that this is not about reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The Iranians, through their proxy Hamas, unleashed holy hell on Israel to stop the march toward a better Mideast and a better world. My goal is for them to fail.\n\n\u201cFor Iran fail, Israel must destroy Hamas. For Iran to fail, the Palestinians must have a better life. For Iran to fail, the Mideast needs to come together, marching toward the light away from the darkness.\u201d", 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.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A82FE615-5011-4E73-B8CC-0FD1F6018E44"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1263717897236347, "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"}