Watch Senator Rosen’s Speech HERE.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, ahead of the vote on three resolutions introduced by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to ban the sale of arms to Israel, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) delivered remarks on the Senate floor urging her colleagues to join her in opposing the measures. In her speech, Rosen highlighted how supplying Israel with precise offensive weapons would help Israel defend itself, deter future terrorist attacks, and minimize civilian casualties.
Senator Rosen has been a strong leader in the fight to support Israel and eliminate Hamas. Following the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, Senator Rosen has taken action to ensure Israel is receiving the support necessary to defend itself and defeat Hamas. Last year, Rosen announced that the United States would transfer two additional Iron Dome batteries to Israel following her bipartisan push to bolster this life-saving defense system. She also sent a bipartisan letter calling on President Biden to leverage the U.S. relationship with Qatar to secure the immediate release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.
Below are Senator Rosen’s floor remarks as delivered:
Thank you, Madame President.
Since Hamas launched the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history more than a year ago, Israel has consistently faced a barrage of threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies.
Earlier this year, we all saw how Iran launched two separate missile and drone attacks directly at Israel, and just this week, Israelis were wounded and killed after Hezbollah launched more rockets at northern Israel.
And the resolutions we are debating today would not only hurt Israel’s ability to defend itself against these attacks, they would embolden Iran – I will repeat – they will embolden Iran and its terrorist proxies to continue, and even increase, their vicious and deadly attacks.
In doing so, they could prolong this war even further, at a time when we are close to securing a deal in Lebanon.
I know some on my side of the aisle are going to support these resolutions because they disagree with the current Israeli government.
But your decision whether to help Israel defend itself cannot be a political one.
Government leaders and politicians, well, they come and go, but our commitment to Israel’s security must be ironclad.
And restricting much-needed arms to Israel because you don’t agree with everything the current government is doing will leave our ally vulnerable to future terror.
I’ll repeat – governments and leaders come and go, while our support for our ally remain[s].
Israel has an absolute right to defend itself, and the aid provided by America is critical.
I know some of you [who] are planning to vote for these resolutions agree, but you may be worried about the need for these offensive weapons that the resolutions would block, so let me explain.
Israel cannot rely on missile defense alone to protect its citizens. It also needs to have the ability to destroy enemy threats before they can be deployed, and to respond to attacks that have already been launched.
It’s this strategy that Israel successfully executed over the last few months in Lebanon, where it has preemptively destroyed Hezbollah rocket launchers minutes, just minutes, moments, before they were set to fire on Israel.
And by providing Israel with these weapons, which are more precise and more accurate, we can actually help it defend itself while also minimizing civilian casualties.
I know many of you here are torn. You want to do the right thing, and I’m here to tell you that voting against these resolutions is the right thing.
Banning the sale of arms will hurt Israel. It’ll send the wrong message to Iran and its terrorist proxies that America is abandoning its ally, and that terrorists – that terrorists – can now act with impunity.
Let me repeat – the message to terrorists will be, again, that they can continue to act with impunity.
Terrorists – like Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and others – will continue to receive that message loud and clear, and I can promise you they will plan accordingly.
So if we’re serious about preventing another atrocity like October Seventh, if we’re serious about limiting civilian casualties, if we’re serious about sending a message to terrorists around the globe, I urge all of you to vote no on all three resolutions.
Thank you, Madame President.
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