this is unprecedented. we should not tlow democracies this way at all. things that upset left-wing activists are not prime minister's pols. there's israel's policies. make no mistake the democratic party does not have anti- bv problem it has an anti- israel problem. israel is not a colony of america whose leaders serve at lethe pleasure of the party in power in washington. only israel's citizens should have a say in who runs their government. this is sovereignty. you respect their decisions or werespect their democracy. >> madam president during his state of the union address last

week president biden once again rightly pointed out israel has the right and i would say the duty to defend itself in the brutal hamas terror attack of october 7. it left approximate 1200 at 240 taken hostage. there must be no more october 7. president biden also described the ongoing humanitarian disaster taking place in gaza today. over 31000 palestinians have been killed. over two thirds of them women and children. likely thousands more are unaccounted forunaccounted for buried beneath the rubble. gaza has become human suffering. he mentoring organizations that operated worldwide for decades say they have never witnessed a more terrible situation.dam president, among those suffering in gaza are not only

over 2 million innocent palestiniania civilians but also over 130 hostages still held by hamas. including americans. earlier this week i met with some of the families of israeli hostages whose loved ones were kidnapped and are still being held o captive. i suppose one brave woman held hostage and released during the november pause. every day they are separated from their loved ones, not knowing what will happen to the next is a day of on imaginable mental anguish and torment. that is why we must prioritize the release of the hostages and end the suffering of palestinian civilians. on the only way to do that is to secure an immediate cease-fire and release all of the remainingages. i that must happen but until it happens we must do everything in our power to protect innocent

civilians and the humanitarian disaster in gaza. today, four out of five of the hungriest people on earth are in gaza. hundreds of thousands on the verge of starvation only 23 have crossed the grisly threshold and have died of to starvation. cindy mccain the director of the world food broke program has warned of an imminent famine. and your children i have eight anesthesia for each sewage is spilling on the streets humanitarian officials are seeing spikes in the spread of various children. mr. president two weeks ago the world got ase glimpse of a horrible scene. over 100 starving palestinians were killed as they reach for food from trucks. in the aftermath of that horrible event president biden

has ordered air drops of food supplies. i support that decision because some people are every parcel of food counts but air drops are just a drop in the ocean of need. as also or to theor the building of a temporary port to help deliver more aid by ship. that port will likely not be ready for at least 60 days. to mee the mr need. all these extraordinary efforts being u prewar. lo when there was already a near blockade of a gaza about 500 truck still crossed daily through the crossing into gaza. those of 500 trucks crossed ar less acute that is right now for

the obvious question is why? why in the world s extraordinary and were expensive means to deliver insufficient amount of food and aid by erin c when we could bring in sufficient amountsinsufficient amountsof food and aid by truck through egypt's crossin the multiple crossing points from israel. the answer is because this is a man-made disaster. the and other p this has been caused primarily because the s netanyahu government has used a series of tactics to ct amount of aid entering into gaza. nice to hear or ears to hear knows that. me government have made no secret of their intentions. in october since the war began he said as long as hamas does not release the hostages the

only thing that should enter gaza is hundreds of tons of air explosives not 1 ounce of humanitarian aid. he uses power's finance minister shipment of flour they could feed 1.1 million people for a month in gaza. five weeks at least all while people were starving. and at one point prime minister netanyahu said his government was allowing the minimum amount needed and that was at a time in the humanitarian disaster in gaza. denied the scarcity of food in there was hunger in gaza. mr. president this is why president biden has called out those restrictions and why he saved his state of the union address the quote humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining

chip. unquote. his administration insist israel facilitate more trucks and more roots to get more and more people the help they need no excuses unquote. more than five weeks ago on february 2 25 senators sent a letter to president buthe calling for the netanyahu government to implement five specific actions that humanitarian aid entering gaza. hunt's whitede many called on president biden to merely invoke and implement the humanitarian aid quarters act which section 620 eye o foreign assistance act. and now national security memorandum 20 is in place which is based on9 an national security act it is

essential, to get humanitarian aid or needs to go. people are starving patients is not a virtue. it needs to be said, mr. president, getting humanitarian aid into gaza is only half the battle. the other half and the more dangerous half is distributing the aid once its inside o gaza. doesn't do any good if you cannot safely transport the food to the people who are starving. in other words you need a safe distribution food -- make distribution system for aid now, the organization that is the primary distributor of assistance within casa has been an entity called the united nations relief works agency. more known by shorthand unwrap.

americans may not have heard much. i want to say a little bit about why it exists and what it does. in gaza and elsewhere. but before i do that i want to jump to why this is a pressing issue right now. the future is an urgent matter right now because of prime minister netanyahu and his extreme right wing allies want to get rid of not just in gaza but everywhere that it operates. and guess what, prime minister netanyahu and folks on the far right in his government have wanted to abo october october 7 that at least 2017. in fact prime minister netanyahu

changed official israeli policy with saying they wanted to cut off all funding even at a time that could create instability throughout the region if that happens. and now mr. president republican members of the house and the senate were jumping on this bandwagon's and they went tolish. and how do they want to do this? by inserting a provision in the state foreignrations r bill which is being considered and debated right now as we gather here. to cut off all u.s. funding for unra that is what they want to do. let's go back to why unra was created in the first place. in 1949ear after the

establishment of the state of israel the united nations formed a new agency to provide vital services for over 700,000 palestinian refugees for displaced in the first displacing the first arab-israeli war. back then the idea was that unra would provideug services to palestinian refugees until a just and doable solution to their plight was as we know all too well over 73 years have passed without a resolution to that conflict. which is why unrwa's mission remains essential. among other services unrwa ls provides schools and primary health services to refugees and their defendants in jhe west bank and in gaza. mr. president hope we all agree the palestinian people deserve to live init dignity. the way they do that is to ensure they have

self-determination in the homeland of their on the democratic stateident biden and i believe the only viable long-term solution to this is a two state solution. president biden is put that idea forward is the best way to create sunlight at the end of this v tunnel. it's intended to be a bridge until such a resolution was reached. prime ministers netanyahu has stated very clearly he is opposed to a two state solution. and he has beent of the two state solution. and as i said earlier he also wants to eliminate unrwa organization

of over 300,000 employees also in the west bank and gaza. 13000 of those 30,000nr staff operate in gaza. many as teachers. sinceed with the brutal attacks on israel of october 7, unrwa schools in gaza have shut down. united nations agency has deployed its resources to supply humanitarian relief to the civilian population there. it is the main vehicle for distributing humanitarian assistance in gaza. good to get humanitarian assistance into gaza acute dismantle responsible for delivering t people. this morning i met with chef

josé and i applaud him for his efforts of the central kitchen around the world. including in israel in gaza. he said and i quote support for unrwa is vital if you want to feed peo support unrwa. we may have a temporary port but when the ship gets to the port someone has to transfer the food and other assistance from the ship to the people who need it inwa gaza. and unrwa is a principal distributor of assistance you talk to the world food program and others they they cannot replace that capacity that unrwa has. the government alleged up to 14 of unrwa 13000 emp participated and the horrific

october attacks against israel. allegations and trenches taken them seriously any individuals8í involved must be held accountable. even though the netanyahu ded unrwa unrwa, unrwa fired the alleged perpetrators. un secretary-generalnd announce the launch of a full and independent investigation led by un's highest investigative body into the allegations. and that is ongoing. at the same time president biden suspendedon all u.s. contributions to unrwa pending the outcome of that investigation. a number of other countries followed suit as did the eu.

but mr. president since then two things have changed. first, the netanyahu government has not shared the underlying evidence with unrwa nor as reported by the wall street journal has it shared the raw evidence with the united states. fact i urge everyone of my senate colleagues to read the classified report prepared by i especially urge my colleagues to read the intelligence assessments about the many otherclaims the netanyahu government has made against unrwa and there have been many. i am sure many of my colleagues are unaware oft that unrwa has long provided both israel and the united states with the names and identities of all of its employees for a for full review and vetting. now israel of course has far more extensive intelligence

capabilities than unrwa. but apparently they have never previously raised complaints about any of the employees on the list. many countries that initially suspended their financialor support have since restored their contributions. they have acknowledged the desperation and gaza and the irreplaceable nature unrwa. in fact, they asked the secretary general to ensure neutrality. again organizatio with the staff of 13000 people it is delivering life-sustaining aid people the eu

recognize that it is inhumane to cut off assists a 2 million people because of the atroc alleged acts of 14. punish the 14. do not punish 2 million innocent gazans. and that is why i believe president biden should restore this assistance now. the notion unrwa was a front group for hamas is a total simple. the individual dispatch by president biden to beat the u.s. coordinator in the region is a veteran diplomat. he has repeatedly debunked claims made members of the netanyahu government humanitarian aid provided has beenly diverted to hamas. specifically he said the

following and i quote i have not received any allegation of any incidents of hamas diversion or theft of u.s. or other assistance for fuel any of our partners or from the government of israel since the humanitarian assistance resumed october 21. not a single report from israeli government officials or anyone else about hamas diverting aid that was being transported by unrwa or other agencies. my colleagues individual overseeing operations on the ground in gaza today is an american name scott anderson.co he is a 21 year army veteran from south a dakota. he is a no-nonsense guy.

i urge every senator to talk to him. the notion scott anderson as is part of a front organization for hamas is patently absurd. the truth is, before the war started prime minister did not pretend he wanted to dismantle on the ground as a proxy for he has long wanted not only in gaza but everywhere else that it inian schoolchildren and healthcare for palestinians. like in the west bank and jordan. as i said he has been trying to do that since at least the year 2017. and now he has republicans in congress joi support. not only in gaza but throughout the region. attempts to discredit on the un

have gotten so bad 18 hints of all humanitarian refugee agencies together with ngos like save the children and care sign a statement convert quote halt to the campaign that seek to discredit the united nations and nongovernmental organizations doing their best to save lives." is making it harder for them to save lives. mr. president, if you want to take a combustible situation i bank and make it even worse then close down schools for kids there. take away any chance of an education. snuff out any hopes they may have for a really?re you want to create instability in jordan, shut down unrwa schools and services why do we king abdullah has warned us about the consequences of shutting down unrwa? and here is the crazy thing moment.

prime minister netanyahu has seized on the lies about unrwa being a proxy to achieve his long-term goal of shutting down everywhere. what adds insult to injury mr. president it does not perpetuate hamas in gaza but prime minister netanyahu himself has done exactly that. let me explain. you know there's a lot of talk here in the united states senate about the malign actions how actors have support hamasrs one of them is a very malign actor. now iran did not hamas nor does iran exercise command and control but it does support hamas because like iran hamas is the despicable goal of

eliminating israel. is why it has supported hamas. what we rarely if ever discuss is the inconvenient truth that until the unexpected horror of the attack on october 7 prime minister himself saw it to keep in control in gaza. don't take my word for it he told us in his own words back in 2019 where he said and i quote anyone who wants to prevent the creation of a palestinian state needs to support strengthening hamas. this is part of our strategy should btobuy the palestinians between those in gaza and those in judea and samaria unquote. prime minister netanyahu anyone

who wants to prevent the creation these two support strengthening hamas. mr. president, i like to enter to the regular piece that appeared in october of last year. entitled a brief history of the netanyahu hamas alliance. i asking them's consent and be entered into the record records without objection. cox after all so much as hamas was in control and gaza how could anyone ask israel to accept a palestinian state that included gaza and the west bank? it is a fair question. so what are some of the ways inwhich ais prime minister prime minister netanyahu has enabled hamas to maintain its control and gaza? oh w heard a lot about around here is the money from qatarlished every well-established every

penny of that money flowed from qatar to hamas with the concurrence of prime minister netanyahu and israel. that is been the testimony of witnesses in both the senate foreign relations committee and the banking housing committee. it is also been well-documented in numerous news sources. mr. president like to enter into the a seat at an article entitled quote qatar sent millions to gaza for eight years -- with israel's backing unquote. i ask unanimous consent that be un at into the record projects without objection. >> and mr. president like to the record eight "new york times" article from december of last year entitled and i quote inside the israeli plan that propped up hamas. the sub headline quote prime minister gambled a strong hamas but not too strong we keep the

peace and reduce pressure for the palestinian state progress without objection. >> mr. president prime minister ctnetanyahu role in keeping hamas in control and gaza did n there. mr. president president-elect enters the record israel found the money machine years ago nobody turned it off unquote. >> without objection. >> i want to te for mr. levy who is quoted in that article he was in charge of ec policy. who says and i quote i can tell you for sure that i talk to him referring to prime minister netanyahu, about this. that he did not care that much about it. ". the article goes on to point out that mr. netanyahu's chief shut down his team the task force called harpoon that focused on disrupting groups including

hamas. so mr. president let's go back to why prime minister netanyahu and his extreme right wing allies wanted to keep hamas in place and gaza. it is because as they have said their primary goal was to avoid the establishment of a palestinian state. so long as they could keep the palestinians dividedd a united national movement for such estates and so long as hamas is in control and gaza it proved a useful foil against recognizing a palestinian state that included west bank and gaza until the horror of october 7. now the corollary to not threatening control of gazaasystematically weak in the palestinian authority's of west

bank. the terrible irony is while helping to perpetuate a hamas which was dedicated to the destruction of israel and is dedicated to the destruction of it is prime minister netanyahu and his a undermined the authority and the plo which for over 30 years since the oslo accords have a recognized israel's r and have sought to coexist with israel. their strategy keep hamas in plac h undermine the palestinian authority. in fact even today during the war and gaza finance minister is withholding an even greater share of the pa's own funds and since coming to netanyahu government has advanced more settlements and allowed more outpost deeper in the westn bank. and of course that further undermines the legitimacy of the pa in the eyes of the palestinian people by exposing their totalg inability to stop

those actions. even as they come the the pa help provide israel with security in certain areas of the west bank. so prime minister netanyahu has advanced the strategy, weakening the palestinian authority facilitating hamas in order to prevent palestinians from being able to live in a dignity in the state of their o and of their reason, the reason prime minister netanyahu in the far right extremist and his government don't want thpalestinian state in the west bank is i they want at all for themselves and what they envision as a greater israel. you have palestinians in the west bank you can implement the vision of a greater israel. their version of one state. so it mr. president we come

full circle. gentry was established to be a bridge to provide services like education to palestinian after they were displaced and i am sure it's founders diditsfounder said not expected to be around for so long. but that is because they likely never envisioned a 74 years later the conflict that gave rise to hezbollah would remain but it is unresolved. and now prime minister netanyahu is openly oppose president biden's call to resolve it ultimately by enacting a real two state solution. that would include normalization of relations between israel and saudi arabia on the other arab countries who have yet to recognize israel. in port security needed f jewish state of israel. and, at the state time prime minister netanyahu wants to torpedo a two state solutiot he also wants to pursue his long-term goal of ending the organization

that was born out of that conflict. and eliminating the services it currently provides to e palestinian refugees. mr. president, the united states should not be complicit in this scheme. we should not be a party to defundingnd is right now playing a critical role and the delivery of desperately needed food and humanitarian assistance to starving people. nor should we be complicit in defining the essential services provides in places like the west bank and jordan and other places. i support reforming unrwa but not eliminating it. the question of is at this very moment that biggest unresolved issue in the foreign operations appropriations u bill. i call upon responsible members of congress and the senate and the house to ensure the united states does not defund unrwa.

members never bothered to drive a short distance from school in young students talk about their dreams to be doctors engineers and educators. like some of us have done. there is hope in the schools not hates. and frankly that is what we should be able to do here in the united states senate. we should o side of hope. we should not be a party to the closing of schools for palestinian students in the west bank jordan, and other countries party to creating even more instability in the middle east. mr. president, like manf colleagues unlike president biden i believe the only way to create some light at the end of this dark tunnel is defined a path that secures security for

the israeli people and dignity and self-determination for the why stand with our call et cetera schumer and is important and timely on the comments this morning. that rejecting the idea of pulsing statehood and sovereignty is a grave mistake" for regional especially for the security of israelis and palestinians. prime minister netanyahu has said a two state solution would nbe a big reward. a reward he says for hamas. but the opposite is true. hamas has one plan the destruction of the state of israel and replacing the jewish democratic state with one of their own. they went one state a two state solution as contrary to for and all it seeks to achieve. so far from being rewarded will

wouldbe a denial of their goal. control. we all know that the road ahead will be long and it will be hard. in the aftermath of the horrific hamas attacks of october 7 and the current humanitarian disaster in gaza it is hard to imagine a time of peace and stability. that will that will only come when pan right of israel to exist in security and israeli leaders who recognize that palestinians must have a viable of their own both make the necessary risks for peace. so mr. president let us push forre and release of all the hostages and then let us create a flicker of hope in this moment of darkness. i yield the floor. >> the senator from south carolina. >> thank you mr. president

very much. >> chin a later date i'll respond colleague from maryland. e senator van hollen is on therw committee. there will not be one dime for onra. that's just not me, that's senator collins,ki very well with patty murray to get supplemental moving. why is that, because we believe onra is compromised i will come and show you the textbooks that onra uses in the palestinian community to teach the destructio of the jewish people

not one penny for onra helping the palestinian people begin with the way they're taught in school. so after we defeat the germans and the japanese it took a while to radicalize the population. new people in charge of the palestinian community and the west bank and gaza will stop teaching the death of the jews, trying to give the palestinian children a more hopeful life, i hope that happens one day soon. is reason i came to the floor is i've been asked probably like you have, mr. president. >> let me finish, i have to -- we will come in debate. i have to -- >> we really should debate because i don't know any

evidence at all -- >> senator fromwn -- has been perpetrating tall wrong things things. having said that let me finish my thoughts, senator schumer who i've worked with immigration and h of things, i've tried to be bipartisan when it comes to'v foreign policy i've tried to work, the colleague the president and senate has been one of my best friends. about senator schumer's speech. i'm dumbfounded. i've always respected him. i disagree with him politically. what he said today was bad. the majority leader of the

united states senate is calling on the people of to overthroww their government. whether you likeik bb or not is not the question. is it appropriate for anybody in the body telling another country to take their government down. we will have an election here, hope we take over the biden administration through the process. that's for us to decide. i've been on the phone explain to people what happened and i don't have a good explanation. we g are trying to get take a leap of faith that doesn't have to be this way all of the time to do some things that would allow palestinian community to reorganize. 75% do not support

solution. there's no support by any politician in israel anybody to declare a state. if there's ever a state it will come through direct knoxs between the party.the trump administration, jared kushner had a plan that primeya minister netanyahu actually agreedith. weri should be trying to find a way to ease the suffering of the palestinian people and the best way to do that is destroy hamas. the reason so meen killed is because hamas uses them as human shields. we are having prominent democratic members people i respect calling on israeli people to take their government can't

believe it. this is a departure on how the united states interacts with its allies, i think it's done enormous damage to describingatet negotiations. i hope senator schumer will renegotiate this. they're not worth pleasing. i don't know who you're trying to please but say that by that the israeli government rneeds to cease to exist. i'm not asking the israeli people to elect somebody i like, i'm asking them when ever you have an election elect somebody that you like people of israel to bow to my view of how to settle this matter after the largest loss of jewish life

since the holocaust. i want to give unconditional, unqualified support to the people of destroy hamas. after world war ii mr. president, if anybody had suggested to america that we need to take our foot off the gas when it came to destroying the nazis and the japanese you'd been run out of town. what won the oscar? a film called "oppenheimer" talked about how the atomic bomb was country to destroy two cities in japan to end the war. you have to understand and you do mr. president, you have done you have to understand, you have to understand that october the seventh to theyo israeli people is pearl harbornd 911 on steroids. it's not just a tit for tat witht was an attempt by hamas to break the back of the jewish people and rape and murder in a fashion they want

the world to see. the israeli perspective on what to do is similar to what we thought we should do after world war ii, total complete victory. everybody mobilize do what you have to do to end the war to take the nazis down and the imperial japanese army, destroy it unequivocally. millions of people were killed in world war ii. war is literally hell but when you've been attacked the way we were on pearl harbor and 911 you to respond forcefully. you to makeav sure it never happens again and the only way israel can do this is destroy the military capability of hamas. so why did this happen, mr. president? i believe that the great satan

which is iran wanted this to happen to prevent reconciliation between saudi arabia and the state of israel ending the israeli conflict, a nightmare for the ayatolla who said arabs and the jews make peace and economically integrate leaving them behind. so israel has signed agreements with six of the arab neighbors under bb's leadership, when i go i meet with everybody. it's not about bb,s it's about our relationship and i will meet with them. i know them all. mr. lapete and i r good friends. i've known bb for 25 years it's about what should we do to help our friends in israel. nothing would please me more to find a way to end this war sooner rather than later and get back on track for the normalization process.

but we cannot expect israel to stop now it's like putting 80% of the fire out we are down brigades. it's known negotiablable mr. president that hamas will be destroyed militarily. i'm hoping in the middle of all this chaos we can still find a way for saudi arabia israel to normalize and that would be the ultimate death blow, i think, to the iranian ambitions in the region and part of that deal as you know, mr. president would be the palestinians would have a better life eventually that saudi arabia and uae would invest heavily in the gaza and west bank, new younger less corrupt people, running the place, trying to find a pathway

forward where the palestinians and israel can coexist in a way that's been beneficial for all. that can never if hamas is destroyed. if hamas is still in place they will kill everybody with everybody that wants to make peace with israel. they didthey have no desire as senator van hollen of recognizing the jewish state but i will close i began what senator schumer said on the floor of the senate is taken the country andthe senate down the wrong road. this is not something any of us should be saying calling on a government to be toppled basically by its own people at the end of the day bb is not the problem. the problem is radical islam wanting to kill every jew they can find the problem is iran

that has its mission to destroy the jewish state and to purify islam, i could2k spend hours talking about the biden-obamari policy empowering the ayatolla but that's not for today. so what i would say s as to what senator schumer said today my response to senator schumer i'm disappointed, you've done a lot of damage, my friend, and you need to fix t 's t tm inayte ari c-spannow mobile ahe pck's and live c-spaee mobile app or online at c-span.org. c-span is your unfiltered view of government, we are funded by these television companies and more including charter communications. charter is proud to be recognized as one to have best internet providers and we are just gettingrted building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most.

>> charter communi public service along with these television providers giving you a front-row seat to