{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=50293251-164D-47F6-B5DE-E206EDB5667F", "McConnell: America Must Reaffirm Commitment to Israel\u2019s Security In Face Of Terrorist War", "2023-10-16", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding support for Israel:\n\n\u201cSince the Senate last convened, terrorists have sent shockwaves through the civilized world with savage, cold-blooded violence.\n\n\u201cOn October 7, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad desecrated Israeli soil and tore apart Israeli families with utterly medieval brutality.\n\n\u201cLike ISIS, terrorists from Gaza turned peaceful homes and neighborhoods in Israel into blood-soaked warzones.\n\n\u201cIt was the deadliest attack on Israelis \u2013 and on American citizens overseas \u2013 in decades.\n\n\u201cBy now, reports and images of these horrific scenes have spread widely.\n\n\u201cAccounts of Israeli women tortured and raped, of elders kidnapped, of charred corpses and beheadings, and of children shot dead in their homes have shaken peaceful people to their cores.\n\n\u201cIn one kibbutz, a paramedic named Amit was working to save the lives of victims pouring into a local clinic when she documented what would be the last moments of her own life in messages to her sister.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s what she said, \u2018They\u2019re here. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll get out of here alive. Be strong, if something happens to me.\u2019\n\n\u201cA few minutes later, in a call from Amit\u2019s phone, all her sister could hear were gunshots and screams. One in ten residents of her community were slaughtered by the terrorists.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s how one retired senior IDF commander put it after he ran to rejoin Israel\u2019s defense efforts.\n\n\u201c\u2018I have heard during my childhood about the pogroms in Europe, the Holocaust, of course. All my family came from Europe, they are survivors. But I never thought I would see\u2026things like that.\u2019\n\n\u201cMadam President, the people of Israel are grieving unimaginable horrors. And we have a responsibility not to look away.\n\n\u201cNot least because the same news that has shaken the civilized world to its core has emboldened anti-Semites and terrorist sympathizers across the globe.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen thousands of demonstrators cheer on terrorist violence from the streets of Western cities.\n\n\u201cIn London, many Jewish children were kept home from school on Friday out of fears for their safety.\n\n\u201cIn Chicago, a bomb threat forced a local synagogue to evacuate.\n\n\u201cIn Sydney, Australia, a supposedly pro-Palestinian gathering devolved into a sickening flashback to the worst stain on the last century of human history as demonstrators chanted \u2018gas the Jews\u2019.\n\n\u201cAnd on college campuses across America, leftist student groups cloaked vile anti-Semitism in a thin veneer of performative woke jargon.\n\n\u201cSo Madam President, friends of Israel simply cannot afford to be silent. And as Israel\u2019s closest ally, the United States must lead by our example in supporting its efforts to defend itself for as long as it takes.\n\n\u201cAs I outlined over the state work period, this means loudly and clearly distinguishing between the aggressor and the victim in this war. No matter how many voices in the media attempt to \u2018both-sides\u2019 a terrorist attack, there is simply no moral equivalence here.\n\n\u201cResponsibility for the murder of Israelis lies with the terrorists who pulled the trigger and the regime that arms and trains them.\n\n\u201cAnd responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinian people lies with the Hamas terrorists who consolidated power by flinging rival civilian officials off of rooftops, who use scarce building supplies to dig terror tunnels, who turn drinking water pipes into rocket launchers, and who use residents of Gaza as human shields.\n\n\u201cMake no mistake: the surest way to stop violence against Israelis and oppression of Palestinians is to wipe terrorists like Hamas from the face of the Earth.\n\n\u201cTo that end, the United States must continue to provide maximum support to Israel\u2019s counter-terrorist operation, as long as it takes. And just as importantly, we have to re-establish deterrence against the Iranian regime that not only directly threatens America\u2019s interest in a peaceful and stable Middle East, but also bears the blood of hundreds of Americans and plots to kill even more.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the desperate pursuit of a new nuclear deal, and the failure to respond decisively to attacks on U.S. forces in Syria have weakened our deterrence against the world\u2019s largest state sponsor of terror.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s weakness has left our allies and partners with serious questions about the credibility of our commitments.\n\n\u201cAnd if we fail to present clear and devastating consequences of further violence against America as well as our friends in Israel, we will make deterring an even bigger strategic adversary in Asia even more difficult.\n\n\u201cRe-establishing effective deterrence means investing in American military strength. It means investing in an industrial base that\u2019s capable of equipping both U.S. forces and our allies and partners to meet authoritarian aggression \u2013 in Europe, in Asia, and in the Middle East. And it means responding to challenges with credible and unflinching resolve.\n\n\u201cThis is a fundamental responsibility of governing. Full stop.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll have more to say in the coming days. But for right now, this is not merely a terrorist war against Israel.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s part of a clear and present danger to the United States and the entire civilized world.\n\n\u201cThis, Madam President, is a time for choosing.\n\n\u201cAs Israel works to eliminate the terrorists who threaten its existence, the United States must reaffirm our commitment to Israel\u2019s security.\n\n\u201cAnd we must continue to demonstrate by our leadership that no country should offer safe haven to those who aid and abet terror.\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.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=50293251-164D-47F6-B5DE-E206EDB5667F"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9823569562286139, "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"}