{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/tuberville-wicker-risch-call-for-elimination-of-hamas/", "Tuberville, Wicker, Risch Call for\u00a0Elimination of Hamas", "2024-11-08", "2024", "2024-11", "Republican", "Senate", "AL", "Tommy Tuberville", "T000278", "www.tuberville.senate.gov", "tuberville", "https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jim Risch (R-ID) and 11 colleagues in sending a letter to multiple Biden federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of State, regarding the elimination of Hamas. The Senators request that the agencies:\n\nImmediately freeze the assets of Hamas officials living in Qatar.\n\nExtradite several senior Hamas officials currently residing in Qatar and elsewhere, including Khaled Meshal whom the Department of Justice has already indicted, and Khalil Al-Hayya.\n\nAsk Qatar to end its hospitality of Hamas\u2019 senior leadership, as Hamas has exploited its safe haven in Qatar to confer with Iranian officials and reject reasonable negotiations in international media.\n\n\u201cThe defeat of Hamas is within reach, and ending the safe haven that its leadership enjoys abroad is vital to defeating it,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cWe urge you to act expediently so that this Iranian-backed terrorist organization is finally held responsible for the horrific terrorist massacre of October 7, 2023, and the war that it deliberately unleashed across the region.\u201d\n\nFollowing President Trump\u2019s reelection this week, Qatar announced that Hamas was no longer welcome. Pressure from Senate Republicans and the re-election for Donald Trump is already paying dividends and making the world safer.\n\nJoining Senators Tuberville, Risch, and Wicker are U.S. Senators Ted Budd (R-NC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).\n\nRead the full letter bellow or here.\n\nDear Secretary Blinken and Attorney General Garland,\n\nThe Israel Defense Forces\u2019 killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar presents a critical opportunity for the United States to compel Hamas\u2019 surrender. This would end the war that Hamas started with its brutal terrorist massacre on October 7, 2023, in which it killed nearly 1200 people, including 46 Americans, and took 250 hostages, including twelve Americans. We therefore urge you to act quickly against Hamas\u2019 remaining leadership, so that the organization is destroyed and defeated.\n\nFirst, we urge you to reverse the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s policy toward the State of Qatar, whereby the administration has permitted Qatar to facilitate negotiations by hosting Hamas\u2019 leadership. Hamas\u2019 Doha-based leaders have exploited this arrangement, and used the relative freedom that Qatar has afforded them to oppose ceasefire negotiations in international media, host Iranian officials at Hamas\u2019 Doha headquarters, and travel abroad. Qatari officials have said repeatedly that they would change their policy towards Hamas if the Biden-Harris administration asked it to do so, and we believe that it is long past time the administration ask Qatar to freeze Hamas leaders\u2019 assets, shut their access to international media, end their ability to host foreign visitors, and prevent them from traveling abroad.\n\nSecond, we urge you to seek the extradition to the United States of Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, who currently resides in Qatar. The Department of Justice unsealed indictments pertaining to multiple Hamas leaders, including Mr. Meshal, on September 3, 20241 , and he should face justice for his leadership of a terrorist group that has American blood and hostages on its hands.\n\nThird, we urge you to seek indictments for Hamas\u2019 other senior officials abroad, foremost among them Khalil Al-Hayya, who resides in Qatar. According to The New York Times, during the year prior to Hamas\u2019 October 7, 2023 terrorist massacre, Mr. Al-Hayya sought Iranian and Hezbollah support for Hamas\u2019 brutal attack, with the goal of assaulting Israel on multiple fronts.2 Mr. Al-Hayya should no longer be permitted to live risk-free in Doha. He should be indicted immediately for his role in killing Americans and taking Americans hostage, and then extradited to the United States to face justice.\n\nThe defeat of Hamas is within reach, and ending the safe haven that its leadership enjoys abroad is vital to defeating it. We urge you to act expediently so this Iranian-backed terrorist organization is finally held responsible for the horrific terrorist massacre of October 7, 2023 and the war that it deliberately unleashed across the region.\n\nSincerely,\n\nSenator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans\u2019 Affairs, and HELP Committees.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:02:12Z"]], "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.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/tuberville-wicker-risch-call-for-elimination-of-hamas/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8533478248864412, "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"}