'Until Rafah Is Destroyed And Hamas Is Destroyed We will Not Be Able To Get To Peace': Mike McCaul

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During House floor debate, Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) rose in support of HR 8369, the Israel Security Assistance Support Act. In his support for overriding President Biden's move to withhold certain arms from Israel, Rep. McCaul called for the destruction of Rafah as part of dismantling Hamas.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

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00:00 Now speaker I ask you to consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend

00:06 their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure. Without objection. I yield myself

00:12 as much time as I may consume. The gentleman is recognized. Madam Speaker, Hamas's October 7th

00:19 massacre was a cruel barbaric and bloody as anything I have ever seen. Hamas unleashed pure

00:28 evil on Israel that day. The Hamas terrorists filmed themselves committing brutal atrocities

00:36 because they were so proud of their barbaric acts. In fact in just hours they murdered 1200

00:43 innocent people and took over 250 hostages including Americans. And I say this to remind

00:51 my colleagues of the moral clarity that we as a body felt in the aftermath of these brutal attacks.

00:59 It was obvious to us then that Hamas was ruthless. It was obvious to us that Hamas needed to be

01:06 eradicated to ensure Israel's security. And it was obvious to us that Hamas would fight dirty

01:14 and use innocent civilians as human shields. And it was obvious to us that Israel had no choice

01:23 but to win this war and end the perpetual terrorist threat. We all, Republicans and Democrats, spent

01:32 those weeks talking about our steadfast support for Israel. Our ironclad commitment. In fact Mr.

01:39 Meeks and I introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning Hamas in support of Israel which had

01:46 more co-sponsors than any other resolution in the history of the Congress. However today I'm deeply

01:56 disappointed that for some in this country and for the administration that that moral clarity

02:03 has faded. That their ironclad commitment apparently is not in fact ironclad. And in

02:10 about face the Biden administration is now withholding critical arms necessary for Israel

02:17 to win this war. This administration wants to dictate how Israel executes the war that they

02:23 were thrust into. They did not ask for this war. They did not start this war. Hamas started this

02:31 war. Just recently though President Biden said quote "if they go into Rafa I'm not supplying

02:40 the weapons period" end of quote. That would be similar for us, Madam Speaker, to say during World

02:47 War II, my father's war, quote "you can invade all the way up to Berlin but you can't go into Berlin

02:55 to finish the job." Imagine if we'd done that with our allies back then. Israel is in a fight for its

03:03 very existence and this administration's public break with Israel has only made negotiations and

03:10 victory more difficult. Rafa is the final key military objective to complete the mission against

03:19 Hamas. Israel has effectively eradicated 19 battalions throughout Gaza yet four remain in

03:27 Rafa. This is the last stage of the military operation and it keeps getting delayed and delayed

03:35 and delayed. We know that Hamas is exploiting the ceasefire and using the negotiation process just

03:42 to buy more time. Hamas has established a network of tunnels that total over 300 miles in Gaza.

03:53 These tunnels of terror are where they remind, where they are holed up ready to strike Israel

04:01 at the first opportunity. Their use of tunnels is why Israel must use these larger bombs to destroy

04:09 their command and control centers and eliminate the terrorists that find refuge in them. And by

04:15 the way, contrary to what's been said publicly, these bombs when applied with the JDAM kits

04:24 can become precision guided weapons. Precision means just that, precise. It goes straight to

04:32 the target without collateral damage and it does indeed protect innocent civilians.

04:40 We know that Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas, is somewhere around these tunnels and taking him out

04:47 is critical to defeating Hamas. Madam Speaker, as the saying goes, war is hell, war is horrific,

04:56 war is messy, nobody wants war. But Israel did not start this war, Hamas did. And sadly,

05:07 civilian casualties are part of urban warfare. Israel has limited this number greatly

05:14 and is opening all routes for humanitarian assistance. This despite the fact that Hamas

05:20 are the ones who use human shields, hide behind hospitals and schools, and put civilians in harm's

05:27 way. It was Hamas that destroyed the Erez checkpoint on October 7th, significantly

05:35 impeding aid from getting into Gaza. And since then, they have repeatedly attacked another

05:41 checkpoint that serves as a major artery of aid into Gaza. Egypt also is currently delaying aid

05:48 through the Rafah checkpoint. But just the other day, I saw a video of Hamas killing their own

05:56 people, Palestinian children, simply trying to get food out of the trucks as they gunned down

06:04 their own people. Until Israel finishes the last major operation to remove Hamas from power,

06:12 to defeat the remaining battalions that are in Rafah, we will never have the peaceful resolution

06:21 that everybody wants. For until Rafah is destroyed and Hamas is destroyed, we will not be able to get

06:29 to the peace talks with the Saudis and Israel and the other Arab nations that everyone is

06:35 so optimistic about. I can only think of one purpose to withhold these weapons.

06:42 This administration is more concerned about a small vocal wing of activists

06:48 than the ironclad commitment that they talked about to stand by Israel. Under this administration,

06:56 I've noticed a disturbing trend, a trend where we turn our backs on our allies and fall short of the

07:02 promises we make. That is why this legislation is so important. It will ensure the weapons are

07:10 delivered to Israel, and it will reassure our allies that when America makes a commitment,

07:15 we keep it. For think about this, Madam Speaker, what kind of a message is this sending

07:22 both to our allies and friends and our adversaries and enemies? To our allies,

07:28 it sends a message of we cannot be trusted. And to our adversaries, it sends a message

07:34 that they no longer fear us. It does not send a message of deterrence. It sends a message

07:43 of weakness and invites conflict, aggression, and now, yes, war. For imagine if Iran cut off

07:52 its weapons to Hezbollah and cut off its weapons to the Houthi rebels, what would be said of Iran?

08:00 What would be our impression? They believe they have achieved victory, Madam Speaker,

08:08 without a shot fired, a victory handed to them by this administration, tying the hand of Israel,

08:17 one hand behind its back, as it moves into the final stage of this war to complete its final

08:23 mission. Prime Minister Netanyahu says, I will do this alone if I have to.

08:28 He should not have to do this alone. We need to stand with our ally Israel, stand with her,

08:35 and stand with her to defeat this terrorist organization Hamas and bring a final closure

08:44 and a peaceful resolution to the Middle East. And with that, I reserve the balance of my time.

08:50 The gentleman from Texas Reserves.

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