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Standing With Israel Against Terrorism Mr. Speaker, the principles and virtues that all of us revere and respect about America are under assault in the Middle East. The people of Israel are resisting a wave of terrorism. And as we watch the violence directed against them, we are roused to resolve that terrorism in all its forms must be defeated. There is no moral equivalence between a democratic government defending its citizens and a calculated strategy of death waged by terrorist organizations. Homicide bombings are evil incarnate. On the scales of justice and morality, they are no difference from the attacks launched against the US last September. They serve only to satisfy the gruesome appetites of pure hatred and unrestrained wickedness. And they demonstrate beyond question that the abiding threat to peace in the Middle East stems from the groups which exist for the single purpose of destroying Israel. The citizens of free nations share a special bond. It flows from our common commitment to a set of enduring principles. We trust democracy. We defend human rights. We live under the rule of law. And we seek good relations with every country wishing to coexist peacefully with others. Israel is the lone bastion of freedom in the region. Within Israel’s neighbors, peaceful transitions are an accident of fate. describing these countries as genuine democracies would be as inaccurate as calling an acorn an oak tree. It is time for every country in the Middle East to pass a fundamental test of the civilized world by unequivocally rejecting terrorism and acknowledging that bombings and other acts of terror render any underlying cause or grievance inherently illegitimate. It’s the test President Bush laid down in this chamber when he said: "You are with us or with the terrorists." The men and women of Israel must know that we recognize the broader significance of their struggle. The attacks directed against them are attacks against liberty and all free people must recognize that Israel’s fight is our fight. Let every terrorist know, the American people will never abandon freedom, democracy, or Israel. America will never permit the Jewish state to fall to aggression. The search for peace cannot diminish and must not obscure a key lesson of the past forty years: democracies must not negotiate with terrorists. For that reason, Yasser Arafat strikes many of us as a highly unreliable vessel to carry the hope for peace. The most promising sign for both the people of Israel and the Palestinian people would be the emergence of moderate Palestinian leaders who truly seek a negotiated settlement for a lasting peace. Today, the Palestinian men and women who wish nothing more than to raise their families in peace have no voice. Nothing will do more to bring peace to the region than the emergence of a Palestinian leader with the courage to accept Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State and a willingness to acknowledge Israel’s legitimate security considerations. But until that day comes, every man and women in Israel should know that they do not stand alone, because America is with them. |
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