The Realities and Necessities of War
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered the following remarks on the House floor.
Mr. Speaker:
The attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th was an unprovoked act of barbarity and butchery that targeted innocent civilians and broke every rule of war dating back to medieval times.
The sinister nature of the attack and the genocidal character of the government behind it should shock the conscience of every man and woman of good will on this planet.
As the Nazis were systematically murdering six million Jews, the civilized nations of the world took up arms in defense of the defenseless, annihilated the scourge of Hitler and Hitlerism and vowed to NEVER allow such crimes to be permitted again.
To assure this objective, these united nations restored the Jewish state to the Jewish homeland, whose roots in Israel trace back to the dawn of human history.
NEVER AGAIN. Israel exists today to maintain and uphold that sacred vow of mankind.
NEVER AGAIN. The generation that survived those times KNEW how vital that declaration is and how essential the existence of Israel is to fulfill it.
And yet, the genocidal hatred that produced the Holocaust was never completely extinguished. It has now morphed into a more virulent strain of Nazism that came on full display on October 7th. And shockingly, we are seeing support for that ideology in the riots unfolding on our streets and campuses, and it has even seeped into the halls of Congress.
I oppose punishing anyone for their opinions – even vicious opinions. But they should be denounced at every opportunity and the destructive policies they advocate should be decisively defeated.
Which brings me to the folly of the Biden Administration.
Hamas is the popularly elected government of Gaza. When it attacked, Israel responded the only way it morally could – by waging war with all its might and resources.
Gaza was not provoked by Israel. Quite the contrary: in 2006, Israel granted the people of Gaza the right of self-government, and they promptly responded by electing Hamas. Last week a poll of Palestinians found overwhelming support for that government and the atrocities it committed. There is no moral equivalency here. Israel has practiced tolerance toward all its Arab neighbors; while Hamas is dedicated to the annihilation of Israel.
War is hell on earth. A nation forced into it has a moral obligation to put all its resources behind its soldiers and to achieve unconditional victory as quickly as possible, and then to resolutely destroy the government and culture that unleashed it.
The demands for a cease fire by the Biden Administration, the provision of so-called humanitarian aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza, and demands for “proportionality” are utterly self-destructive to ALL involved, because their practical effect is to prolong the conflict indefinitely. In war, you don’t want a proportional response; you want the most disproportional response you can muster. The more disproportional it is, the sooner it is ended.
Humanitarian aid is what you send AFTER the enemy has unconditionally surrendered and not a moment before. Can you imagine sending food and fuel into Nazi Germany during World War II? That is lunacy.
The fountainhead of the problem is Iran. It is funding the most extensive terrorist network in history. The sanctions against Iran were producing a growing popular resistance to the regime. Yet each time it was about to boil over, Obama and later Biden, took billions of dollars owned by the Iranian people and instead turned it over to their oppressors in Tehran. Biden’s refusal to enforce sanctions has meant an estimated $30 billion of revenues to Iran. It was about to release another $6 billion when the attack on Israel embarrassed them into temporarily backing down.
When President Biden releases money to Iran or relaxes sanctions, he is funding the very terrorist operations unleashed against Israel. When he leaves our borders wide open, he is creating an open pathway for terrorists into our country. And when he sends aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza, he gives aid and comfort to the very forces that unleashed such terror upon Israel and aspire to unleash it against America.
For our own sake, and for the sake of humanity, America must stand unconditionally with Israel, cutting off any resources to its adversaries and providing the arms, ammunition and moral support it desperately needs.
This is the only way to restore the full force of civilization behind these two sacred words: NEVER AGAIN.