Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Leading The Bipartisan Senate Delegation Trip To Israel And The Senate’s Upcoming Work To Support Israel
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the recent bipartisan Senate delegation trip to Israel and the work ahead on bipartisan legislation to support Israel. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Today, I come before the Senate with a heart full of grief. I come shaken by anger and fear, but with a resolve to act. I come with my spirit moved – down to its core – by the terrible things I saw these past few days.
This morning, I returned to the United States after leading a bipartisan delegation to Israel along with Senators Rosen and Kelly and Romney and Cassidy.
As the first Jewish Majority Leader, as the highest ranking Jewish elected official ever in America, I wanted to be there and I felt an obligation to be there. It was a trip I’ll remember for the rest of my life, a visit to the only Jewish state on Earth facing one of the darkest hours of its 75-year history, probably the darkest hour.
We travelled to deliver a simple and unmistakable message: we, the American people, stand with the people of Israel in this moment of need.
We said to the people of Israel: we have your back. We feel your pain. We ache with you. And in the coming weeks, the United States Senate will do everything possible to help Israel eliminate the threat that Hamas presents and help Israel in every way we can.
I thank my colleagues who joined me on this important trip. I thank everyone who will be travelling there this coming weekend.
Right now, our presence means the world to Israel. They were so gratified that American Senators came to stand with them in their moments of grief and sorrow. It was clear that just being there made a tremendous difference and boosted their resolve.
We had very productive meetings with a whole range of Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, National Unity Party Minister Chairman Benny Gantz, Defense Minister Gallant, President Isaac Herzog, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.
But the most memorable meeting was with the twelve families of the hostages. There they were, sitting there, wondering what was happening to their mother, their sister, their brother, their baby, in the hands of these brutal terrorists. Nothing prepared us for the overwhelming grief we felt talking to the families of the hostages and sharing their deep pain. There was not a dry eye in the room. Many of these people didn’t know if their relatives were dead or alive – some of them said “I wonder which is better.” They just knew that they were missing and taken by wretched Hamas fighters. It breaks your heart. We saw footage they showed us of their loved ones being led away by the Hamas terrorists: an elderly woman being dragged away from her family a 12-year-old boy being pushed along by these terrorists. Families in sheer agony wondering what was happening to their loved ones in the captivity of these brutal terrorists.
Today, we know now that the number of hostages has exceeded one hundred and ninety nine. It is of the utmost importance that Israel and the United States do everything it can to bring every single one of these hostages to safety.
During our visit, we also experienced in flashes what the Israelis experience on a daily basis. We were having lunch at our hotel when the sirens went off, meaning rockets were only seven to nine minutes away, rockets fired by Hamas. We all rushed into a shelter and waited with bated breath until they told us the coast was clear. It happened again, in the evening, moments before a press conference that had to be delayed that we held on Sunday.
For us the danger was momentary, thank God, but it’s harrowing to think that Israelis are going through this and much greater horrors every single day.
So, again, as the first Jewish Majority Leader, the highest-ranking Jewish official in America —someone who has knowledge of the persecutions and ravages that have affected the Jewish people through the decades, the centuries, the millennia— I felt an obligation to travel this weekend to Israel and deliver a message of partnership.
And I believe our trip went a significant way in pushing back against the dangerous false equivalency between what Hamas is doing and the response against them.
Let’s be clear: Hamas is an evil organization that wants to see Israel wiped off the face of the map. They don’t believe in a two-state solution. They want no Israel and no Jews living between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. Eliminating Israel is part of their charters, so is the killing of Jews.
If left to their own devices, Hamas would do to the Jewish people in the rest of Israel what they did to them in the Gaza border. So, Israel can’t just shrug its shoulders and say, let’s not try to end the threat from Hamas. They have an obligation to do it because Hamas’ attack against Israel was an act of unspeakable evil.
It was their goal to kill as many civilians as possible. Children brutalized. The elderly slaughtered. Young people, in the prime of their life, at a peace festival, being machine-gunned down as they ran away. I was told that at one of the kibbutzim over a hundred people – people from 90 years old down to little toddlers – were rounded up and herded into the recreation room and then Hamas machine-gunned every one of them down until they were dead, every one of them.
It reminded me of a story in my own family. My great-grandmother was the wife of a well-known rabbi. When the Nazis came into Ukraine, it was then part of Poland, in 1941, they told my grandmother to gather her greater family on her porch. She did, about 35 people, according to what my grandmother told me, her daughter who had come to America, told me there were about 35 people from ages 88 to 3 months. The Nazis said you’re coming with us. She said, we’re not moving.
They machine-gunned every one of them down.
History is repeating itself in an evil and awful way.
So the bottom line is simple: Hamas must be defeated. Israel must ensure they are permanently stopped. Because if the world moves on and acts as if this were just some unfortunate episode, you can be sure this will happen again.
And it is essential that the entire world unite in condemning the evils of Hamas. I first learned of the attacks against Israel during my delegation trip to China. When I met with President Xi, I pointed out to President Xi that their initial statement on the conflagration in the Middle East didn’t even mention terrorism or the deaths of innocent civilians. I respectfully requested that he change his statement and they did strengthen their initial statement relating to the attacks. The rest of the world must do the same, must acknowledge and condemn the attacks, the brutal attacks that occurred this week.
As the Senate gavels back in for our fall work period, supporting Israel must be at the top, at the front, and at the center of our attention.
To that end, I urge every single member of the Senate – Democrat and Republican, Independent – to unanimously support the resolution championed by Chairman Cardin, Ranking Member Risch, Leader McConnell, and myself condemning Hamas and affirming that we stand with Israel and their right to defend themselves.
The resolution matters because the Senate needs to declare in one voice that we stand with Israel and against Hamas.
In the coming days, I will be working with the Administration on putting together an emergency supplemental that will give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself. That means military assistance, intelligence assistance, diplomatic assistance, and humanitarian assistance, to care for innocent civilians.
We want to move this package quickly. The Senate must go first.
I know that the House is in disarray, but we cannot wait for them – the needs are too great. And if we pass a strong package with strong bipartisan support, it will importune the House, somehow or other, to act, despite the morass they are in.
It’s also very important that we not only provide the military and intelligence support Israel needs, but that we provide humanitarian assistance to aid civilians impacted by the violence.
During my meetings with Israeli officials, my colleagues and I strongly echoed the Administration’s urging that Israel follow the rule of law and do everything to minimize civilian deaths.
Israel has a very difficult task: to eliminate Hamas, save the hostages, but also minimize civilian casualties, which is a difficult task but one that Israel must and does strive to live up to.
We are not like the evil militants of Hamas. Israel is not. In America and in Israel, the countries must hold ourselves to a higher standard. It is part of who we are as democracies.
So, this package must move quickly, a package of military aid, the necessities that Israel needs. We talked to the leadership of Israel about what they need, and it will be in this package. Intelligence aid to make sure we share intelligence in the best way possible. Diplomatic aid to make sure that the nations of the world stand with Israel. And humanitarian aid to make sure that civilians are given the help that they need. We must move this package quickly.
We must also move to confirm an ambassador to Israel as quickly as possible. The President has already sent us a capable and strong nominee in Jack Lew, who will come before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. I urge the Committee to approve Mr. Lew as soon as possible, without any costly partisan delays, so we can bring him to the floor and confirm him with all due haste.
We dealt very closely in our trip with so many people in the embassy, including a wonderful chargé d'affaires, but it's obvious that they really need an ambassador now more than ever. Mr. Lew has long proven himself a strong public servant, a ferocious ally of Israel, so delaying him would be egregious at a time like this. We must move him quickly, and I hope we will.
Finally, as the conflict evolves in the coming days and weeks, my office will work with the Administration to ensure the Senate remains fully updated about the situation at all times.
For the information of the Senate, we will hold an all-Senators classified briefing this Wednesday, October 18th, at 3:30pm, provided by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the Director of National Intelligence. It is essential that we hear what is going on from our top leaders.
The coming weeks will be an immense challenge not just for the people of Israel but for all of us in Congress as well. Now more than ever, we must work with a spirit of bipartisanship to ensure we can govern and protect Americans here at home and abroad and stand with our friends in Israel.
This moment is a test for all of us – a test for our ability to work together, a test for our resolve to stand with our friends, a test of our resolve to fulfill our fundamental duties to the world. Let us not squander this consequential moment.
And to the people of Israel—Eretz Zavat Chalav, a land of milk and honey—let me close with this: we will be by your side. We will not allow you to bear this burden alone. Your burden will be our burden. Your grief is our grief, your cause is our cause.
May the memories of the dead be a blessing and a source of strength all of us as we navigate the road ahead.
###
