{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=F2BC915B-085B-4F85-98D3-5648CE32B031", "McConnell Remarks on Israel-Hizballah Ceasefire", "2024-12-04", "2024", "2024-12", "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 Israel:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a week since Israel and Hizballah agreed to a ceasefire. War is hell, and I hope sincerely that this marks a durable end to the immediate conflict.\n\n\u201cBut hope is not a strategy, and I know better than to expect honest dealing from hardened terrorists.\n\n\u201cIt would be na\u00efve enough a year and a half ago to believe Iran and its proxies had suddenly decided to accept Israel\u2019s right to exist.\n\n\u201cBut in light of the horrors of October 7th and the sustained campaign of terror since then, it\u2019s more likely that Iran and its proxies mean to alleviate the pressure of Israel\u2019s successful operations and give Hizballah \u2013 the A-team of international terrorism and the vanguard of Iran\u2019s axis of anti-Semitic violence \u2013 a chance to catch its breath.\n\n\u201cIn the weeks and months to come, the strength of this ceasefire will be tested repeatedly.\n\n\u201cWill it prevent Iran from resupplying and regenerating Hizballah\u2019s capacity to wage terror?\n\n\u201cWill it enable Lebanon\u2019s political leaders to chart a new path out of Hizballah\u2019s stranglehold of the country?\n\n\u201cWill it allow residents of northern Israel to feel safe enough to return home?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember why Israel faced this terror in the first place: despite Chapter 7 UN Security Council resolutions demanding compliance, the ceasefire agreement that ended hostilities in 2006 was never enforced.\n\n\u201cEven with Lebanese Armed Forces and UN peacekeepers on the ground, Hizballah re-armed and Iranian influence reached deeper into Lebanon. Such a tragic farce must not be allowed to repeat itself.\n\n\u201cThis ceasefire is not a solution. If regional powers want peace, they will need to act.\n\n\u201cFirst, Israel\u2019s neighbors must decide whether they want to be peaceful and sovereign countries\u2026 or vassals of Iran and legitimate targets of war. This applies to Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon\u2019s fractured government.\n\n\u201cThe United States, for its part, must ensure Israel has the freedom of maneuver to target and destroy Iran\u2019s military and logistical lifelines. And America should move quickly to restore Israel\u2019s munitions stockpiles.\n\n\u201cAs I expect the incoming administration already knows, this means removing restrictions on the sale of needed weapons like 2000-pound smart bombs.\n\n\u201cBut there\u2019s a broader, more fundamental lesson I hope we\u2019ll take away from Israel\u2019s stunningly successful campaign against Hizballah \u2013 it\u2019s about the credibility of threats.\n\n\u201cIt was Israel\u2019s bold and decisive operations, not the overly cautious calls for restraint from Washington, that made a cessation of hostilities possible. The Jewish state has left Iran no reason to doubt Israel\u2019s capacity and willingness to protect its citizens and restore its sovereignty by force.\n\n\u201cAmerica ought to apply this lesson to our own approach to the Iran-backed groups that continue to attack American forces across the region. And to Ukraine, as well. Too many in Washington still believe that the path to peace lies in restraining our friends.\n\n\u201cThe evidence of coordination between our adversaries \u2013 China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea \u2013 is incontrovertible. It\u2019s high time that America\u2019s support for our friends carried real weight.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "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=F2BC915B-085B-4F85-98D3-5648CE32B031"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7062060758471489, "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"}