During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) spoke about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his Congressional address this evening.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to speak for 15 minutes and
00:05Senator Blackburn for 15 minutes prior to the scheduled vote.
00:09Without objection, so ordered.
00:12Thank you, Mr. President.
00:13Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the state of the war between Israel and Hamas.
00:20Tomorrow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak before a joint session
00:25of Congress.
00:27I hope that he will propose a significant change in his approach to the war.
00:32I hope he will offer his resounding thanks to President Biden for his steadfast support
00:38of the defense of Israel.
00:40And I hope he will thank this democratically-led Senate, the Majority Leader, and our Republican
00:46colleagues for our early support of the Supplemental Appropriations Bill that provided billions
00:52of dollars to strengthen Israel's defenses and provide humanitarian support to Gaza.
00:59It has been more than nine months since Hamas carried out its horrific attack against the
01:05Israeli people.
01:07Hamas terrorized and killed more than 1,200 men, women, and children and took 250 hostages.
01:18Unspeakable acts of terror were committed on October 7th, and they will never be forgotten.
01:25In the wake of this attack, the United States has stood resolutely by Israel's side, providing
01:33billions of dollars of aid and intervening to shield Israel from attack by Iran and its
01:39proxies.
01:41For more than 75 years, Israel has been one of our closest allies.
01:46Since its founding, Israel has relied on America's friendship, and we have been proud
01:52to give it.
01:53It is because of this friendship, not in spite of it, that we must insist the Israeli government
02:00change course in its war against Hamas.
02:03Israel's leaders must refocus their efforts to peace, stability, and the core tenets of
02:10Israel's democracy.
02:13Several months ago, I came to the Senate floor as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee
02:19and as a friend and longtime supporter of the Israeli people to say that the war had
02:26veered off course.
02:28I urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to learn from the United States' lessons in Iraq and
02:34Afghanistan, and I urged him to develop a realistic, long-term plan for Gaza, including
02:41a framework for a two-state solution.
02:45Instead, Prime Minister Netanyahu has not just ignored the guidance of Israel's friends
02:51and allies, he has doubled down on his worst instincts and the dangerous ambitions of the
02:58most extreme elements of his coalition government.
03:02The situation in Gaza is catastrophic.
03:07Gaza is a tiny enclave, but it is a home to more than two million people who have been
03:12living in a war zone for nine months.
03:16Tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians have been killed.
03:20Nearly half a million Gazans are facing life-threatening food insecurity.
03:25Efforts to increase humanitarian assistance have fallen far short.
03:31Mr. Netanyahu and his government have failed to develop an exit strategy for Gaza.
03:36They have no plan for a sustainable future for the Palestinians, and no plan to establish
03:41security and rebuild Gaza's destroyed cities.
03:46Even more alarming, Israel now faces the threat of a second front on its northern border with
03:53Lebanon.
03:54Hezbollah, better trained and better armed than Hamas, continues to clash with the IDF,
04:02threatening all-out war.
04:04At the same time, violence in the West Bank could boil over at any moment, which could
04:09spark wider regional conflict.
04:13As I said in March, I believe good allies and good friends stand together.
04:19But great allies and great friends are willing to speak hard truths and hold each other to
04:25the highest standards, especially around the conduct of war.
04:30With Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington this week, I am again compelled to say that
04:35the Israeli government must change its path.
04:39There are three specific issues that the Israeli government must address if it hopes to secure
04:45lasting peace.
04:47First, it must change its strategy in Gaza from a counterterrorism operation to a counterinsurgency
04:55campaign.
04:56Second, Israel must wrest control of its government back from the far-right extremists who have
05:02seized power.
05:04And third, Israeli leaders have to recognize that a two-state solution is the only viable
05:10path to peace and stability for the Israeli people.
05:16To start, we have to acknowledge that Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way in leading
05:22Israel's war against Hamas.
05:25He appears unwilling or unable to understand that his military strategy cannot destroy
05:31a group like Hamas.
05:33He continues to drive a costly, high-tempo counterterrorism campaign when he should be
05:40pursuing a counterinsurgency campaign.
05:44The difference between these two strategies are important.
05:48A counterterrorism operation like the one the IDF is carrying out is about applying
05:54military power to crush terrorist fighters and prevent attacks.
06:00Certainly, Israel has degraded much of Hamas's military power.
06:05U.S. analysts have judged that Hamas no longer has the capabilities to carry out another
06:11attack like October 7th.
06:14But Hamas is not just a terrorist group.
06:17It is an ideology and a political organization with deep roots.
06:22Political ideologies like Hamas cannot be bombed into submission.
06:27Instead, Mr. Netanyahu must shift to a counterinsurgency strategy.
06:33Counterinsurgency campaigns seek to address the root causes of the insurgency and strive
06:39to win the support of the local population while building legitimacy for a responsible
06:46government.
06:47Israel's objective should be to weaken Hamas's support among Palestinians and ultimately
06:53isolate it from political and military lifelines.
06:58But in times of trauma, every nation's first reaction is fear and anger.
07:03Much like Israel's horror on October 7th, the United States experienced a deep national
07:09trauma on September 11th, 2001.
07:13We too responded militarily, but it took us far too long to learn that a sustainable
07:19peace cannot be won solely on the battlefield.
07:23The best armies in the world cannot defeat a terrorist ideology.
07:29Nine months into Israel's war against Hamas, it is clear that there is no way to wipe out
07:35the Hamas ideology through military might alone.
07:39This is not just my opinion.
07:42Current and former Israeli political and military leaders, including members of Mr.
07:47Netanyahu's own cabinet, have warned that Israel's current strategy is not viable for
07:54long-term victory.
07:56Last month, the chief Israeli military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said, quote, those
08:03who think they could make Hamas disappear are wrong.
08:07Hamas is a political party.
08:09It is rooted in people's hearts.
08:12It was because of this strategic failure that Benny Gantz, a former Israeli army general,
08:19defense minister, and member of Netanyahu's war cabinet, announced his resignation last
08:25month.
08:26He argued for months that Israel needed to fundamentally change its approach to the war,
08:32but Netanyahu could not be reasoned with.
08:35I agree with Mr. Gantz on this issue.
08:38Prime Minister Netanyahu's conduct in the war has backfired strategically.
08:43Hamas wants to keep Israel in a state of perpetual war, and Netanyahu has fallen into that trap.
08:51His government must shift from a counterterrorism strategy to a counterinsurgency strategy.
08:59Much of Mr. Netanyahu's intransigence may be attributed to the political allies he surrounds
09:05himself with.
09:07As a way to cling to power, Netanyahu's made common cause with far-right extremists who
09:12pursue their own agendas at the expense of Israel's security.
09:17These extremists have been elevated to some of the highest cabinet positions in the government
09:22and have encouraged Netanyahu's most misguided policies, including his attempted changes
09:28to the Israeli judicial system.
09:31One of these figures is Itamar Ben-Gavir.
09:35As a convicted terrorist, Ben-Gavir was deemed too extreme to serve in the Israeli military.
09:43Nonetheless, in order to secure his coalition, Prime Minister Netanyahu placed Ben-Gavir
09:50in charge of the Ministry of National Security, which oversees the Israeli National Police.
09:57Ben-Gavir has openly advanced his desire for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, including
10:02in Gaza.
10:03He has advocated for the settlement of Israelis in Gaza after the war and has organized a
10:09campaign to hand out assault rifles to Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
10:15Importantly, Ben-Gavir has threatened to topple the governing coalition if his radical demands
10:20are not met.
10:22In particular, he has pressured Mr. Netanyahu to reject a hostage deal or ceasefire with
10:29Hamas that would include the release of Palestinian prisoners.
10:34Ben-Gavir's extreme agenda is eroding Israel's stability and adherence to the rule of law.
10:42Another cabinet minister is Minister Smotrich, a notorious radical settler activist with
10:48a troubling record.
10:50As Netanyahu's Minister of Finance and adjunct minister in the Ministry of Defense, Smotrich
10:57leverages his official power to advance his agenda of annexing the West Bank for Jewish
11:03settlers and evicting Palestinians from the area.
11:07With Prime Minister Netanyahu's implicit support, Smotrich has steadily shifted control of administering
11:14the West Bank to his hand-picked cronies in the Defense Ministry.
11:19The Israeli activist group Peace Now has assessed that 2024 has been the peak year for Israeli
11:26land seizures in the West Bank.
11:29As Finance Minister, Smotrich has abused his power by freezing distribution of Palestinian
11:35tax revenues as leverage to force the annexation of Jewish settlements.
11:41These tax revenues constitute almost all of the Palestinian Authority's budget, including
11:47its police and security personnel.
11:51Earlier this month, Smotrich released some funding back to the Palestinian Authority
11:56in exchange for the authorization of five Israeli settlements that had been built illegally.
12:03This is extortion, plain and simple, and it has been condemned by the U.S. Treasury Secretary
12:08Janet Yellen and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
12:13I highlight these far-right cabinet leaders because their extreme personal and political
12:18agendas are impacting the government's military decisions in Gaza.
12:24Whether through threats or cajoling, Ben-Kavir Smotrich and others have pushed the government
12:29into prosecuting the war and governing Israel the way they see fit.
12:34In announcing his resignation last month, Mr. Gantz told the press that he had, quote,
12:40become exasperated with Netanyahu for agreeing on one thing in the wartime cabinet and then
12:46doing the opposite because of pressure from his far-right coalition partners.
12:52In his resignation speech, Gantz lamented that, quote, faithful, fateful strategic decisions
12:59are met with hesitation and procrastination due to political considerations.
13:05Unfortunately, Netanyahu prevents us from progressing to real victory.
13:12These dynamics cause former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to publicly
13:16warn that, quote, this war appears to be the least successful war in history due to the
13:23strategic paralysis in the country's leadership.
13:28Prime Minister Netanyahu is beholden to the far-right.
13:32He needs his right-wing partners to stay in his coalition, and in turn, they cannot abandon
13:37him because he is their best chance to accomplish the objectives of their nationalist agenda.
13:45Until there is a change in the direction of Israel's leadership, the far-right will continue
13:50to drive Israel's security and the war in Gaza into the ground.
13:56The failings of the Netanyahu government are not just a matter of bad strategy or the Prime
14:01Minister's willingness to rely on radical political partners to stay in power.
14:06It is also his own opposition to a two-state solution.
14:11As has been clear for decades, Prime Minister Netanyahu is unwilling to recognize that a
14:17two-state solution is the only viable path to peace and security for Israel.
14:23He has been thwarting this option since his first term as Prime Minister in 1996.
14:30One of Mr. Netanyahu's most reliable assets for preventing a two-state solution has been
14:36Hamas.
14:38As far back as 2012, Netanyahu told Israeli press that, quote, it was important to keep
14:47Hamas strong as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
14:53He knew that by empowering Hamas in Gaza, a two-state solution would never be possible.
15:00In fact, between 2012 and 2018 alone, Netanyahu allowed an estimated $1 billion to flow into
15:09Gaza, at least half of which reached Hamas.
15:14According to the Jerusalem Post, in a private meeting with members of the Likud Party in
15:202019, Netanyahu explained his rationale as this, quote, the money transfer is part of
15:27the strategy to divide the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and that way we will
15:33foil the establishment of a Palestinian state.
15:38This open hostility to a two-state solution has only hardened in the aftermath of October
15:447th.
15:45In February, Netanyahu bragged, everyone knows that I'm the one who for decades blocked the
15:51establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence.
15:57And in just the last week, he led the Knesset in passing a resolution that rejects a two-state
16:03solution.
16:05Mr. Netanyahu has never been shy about his desire to prevent a two-state solution.
16:10His record is now clear beyond a shadow of a doubt.
16:14We should not be surprised that he continues to stand in the way of peace.
16:19With this troubling record laid out, I feel compelled again, as a friend of Israel, to
16:25say that Prime Minister Netanyahu has put Israel on a disastrous path.
16:30His leadership is eroding Israel's security, health, and democracy.
16:34In March, I came to the floor to call for new leadership for both the Israeli and Palestinian
16:40people.
16:41I stand by that call.
16:43Ultimately, these are decisions for the Israelis and the Palestinian people.
16:48But while Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to lead his nation, I urge him to return to
16:53the ceasefire framework that he agreed to in May with the Biden administration.
16:58This plan includes a sensible and phased approach to bring the hostages home, increasing lifesaving
17:05humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and a realistic approach for day-to-day security and governance
17:13in Gaza.
17:15Israel will not find the long-term security and peace it wants by indefinitely reoccupying
17:20the Gaza Strip.
17:22In addition, the Prime Minister, working with the United States and other regional
17:26allies and partners, must achieve a diplomatic solution on the Israeli-Lebanon border.
17:32Now is not the time to risk opening a second, potentially more dangerous confrontation with
17:38Hezbollah that could spill over into a larger regional war.
17:43Further, Mr. Netanyahu should immediately disavow the far-right members of his cabinet
17:49and stop their efforts to inflame violence in Gaza and the West Bank that is making a
17:54two-state solution all but impossible.
17:57Finally, President Netanyahu must accept the legitimacy of a two-state solution, where
18:03the State of Israel and a demilitarized Palestinian state can exist side-by-side in peace and
18:10security.
18:11This plan is difficult and will require buy-in from Israel, the Palestinian people, Arab
18:17neighbors, and the international community, but it is necessary and essential.
18:23The inability to embrace a two-state solution has profound consequences for the State of
18:28Israel, its security, its standing in the world, and its ability to remain a democracy.
18:35As I prepare to join my colleagues in listening to Prime Minister Netanyahu's address tomorrow,
18:40I remain deeply skeptical of his leadership and willingness to change course, but I hope
18:46he will finally listen to his friends and allies who only want the best for Israel.
18:52The United States is Israel's oldest friend, but as a friend we must insist that Prime
18:57Minister Netanyahu fundamentally change the path he has put his country on.
19:02The eyes of the world and history are upon him.
19:06With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.