U.S. Representative and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay spoke yesterday to a group of some 35 Knesset Members, representing all the parties except the Arab ones. The speech, which was interrupted by much applause, took place in a reception room at the Knesset.
Israel National News-TV was there to film the speech, and the
address in its entirety can be seen here.
Excerpts (roughly 1/5 of the entire speech):
"It has been an amazing four days here... I sat with former refuseniks, heroes who spoke truth to power and helped bring an evil empire to its knees. I visited the Kotel, the ancient Western Wall of the Temple that still stands as a symbol of G-d's infinite strength and love to billions of believers of many faiths all around the world. I shook the hand of the owner of the Moment Cafe which was bombed last year...
And I listened to a woman who told me *her* story. Just a few years ago, she was, like me, a grandparent, very excited with the news that her daughter was expecting again. Her daughter and son-in-law were on their way back from the doctor's office where they had seen, in the sonogram image, the tiny form of their third baby. On the bus ride back home from the doctor, their joyful path met the profound cruelty of a homicide bomber. The terrorist detonated his weapon, and the family and their baby were gone.
She told me this story this week in a park, surrounded by the play of children directly affected by Palestinian terror. She called two of the children over, and introduced me to her two grandchildren who were orphaned that day. Despite the story I heard, these children played, and laughed, and seemed as hopeful about the future as any child would be. And despite my heartache, I had to smile too, because hope was with us in that park.
Even now, I am filled with a gratitude and humility I cannot express. I stand before you today, in solidarity, as an Israeli at heart. [Applause]...
I come to you - in the midst of a great global conflict against evil with a simple message: Be Not Afraid. I do not say this as a foreigner, cavalier in my estimation of the dangers that surround you. Instead I say it as an ally... My country is not ignorant, nor are we indifferent to your struggle. We know our victory in the war on terror depends on Israel's survival. And we know Israel's survival depends on the willingness of free nations - especially our own - to stand by all endangered democracies in their time of need. We hear your voice cry out in the desert, and we will never leave your side.
Because freedom and terrorism cannot co-exist.
...
Those who call this world-view "simplistic" are more than welcome to share their "sophisticated" theories at any number of international debating clubs. But while they do, free nations of courage will fight and win this war. Israel's liberation from Palestinian terror is an essential component of that victory. And it's a *liberation* we are determined to secure - not merely a paper-thin ceasefire.
False security is no security, and murderers who take 90-day vacations are still murderers. [Here, Arutz-7's Haggai Seri noted that the applause was limited only to right-wing MKs.]...
The violence must stop. An immediate and total end to Palestinian terrorism is not a concession the civilized world asks of the Palestinian Authority in order to advance the peace process. It is a prerequisite to the Palestinian Authority's invitation *to* it....
In short, it is the position of the people of the United States, as expressed by their representatives in Congress, that Israel's fight *is our fight.* And so shall it be until the last terrorist on earth is in a cell or a cemetery.
...By their nature, democracies neither enable terror nor instigate war. Citizens in democracies are too busy engaging in Tikkun Olam - "repairing the world." Raising their children. Supporting their families. Strengthening their communities. ...
Standing up for good against evil is hard work. It costs money and it costs blood, but after September 11, 2001, it's a price we are determined to pay. On that day, we left behind forever the illusion that terrorism was someone else's problem. We were thrust into the horrible reality of terror that your nation has long endured. We learned on that day what Israelis have known for decades: that evil cannot long be ignored or accommodated...
The American people stand with you, and so does our President. ...
The [Palestinian people's] plight is real: they have been oppressed and abused by a pernicious enemy. But their enemy is not Israel, nor its people, nor its democratic government. Their enemy is Yasser Arafat. Their enemy is Hamas, Hizbullah, and the vast network of violent men who threaten this region like so many desert scorpions...
Israel is not the problem; Israel is the solution!
I sincerely hope Abu Mazen is the man to finally rid his people of the terrorist elements among them. He may be. I don't know.... Yasser Arafat must be isolated... President Bush [said], "The Middle East needs leaders of vision and courage..." These leaders must not only renounce terrorism, but eradicate it. They must acknowledge Israel's right to exist, secure in its borders, for all time...
May the G-d of Abraham continue to bless the United States, Israel, and each and every one of you.
Israel National News-TV was there to film the speech, and the
address in its entirety can be seen here.
Excerpts (roughly 1/5 of the entire speech):
"It has been an amazing four days here... I sat with former refuseniks, heroes who spoke truth to power and helped bring an evil empire to its knees. I visited the Kotel, the ancient Western Wall of the Temple that still stands as a symbol of G-d's infinite strength and love to billions of believers of many faiths all around the world. I shook the hand of the owner of the Moment Cafe which was bombed last year...
And I listened to a woman who told me *her* story. Just a few years ago, she was, like me, a grandparent, very excited with the news that her daughter was expecting again. Her daughter and son-in-law were on their way back from the doctor's office where they had seen, in the sonogram image, the tiny form of their third baby. On the bus ride back home from the doctor, their joyful path met the profound cruelty of a homicide bomber. The terrorist detonated his weapon, and the family and their baby were gone.
She told me this story this week in a park, surrounded by the play of children directly affected by Palestinian terror. She called two of the children over, and introduced me to her two grandchildren who were orphaned that day. Despite the story I heard, these children played, and laughed, and seemed as hopeful about the future as any child would be. And despite my heartache, I had to smile too, because hope was with us in that park.
Even now, I am filled with a gratitude and humility I cannot express. I stand before you today, in solidarity, as an Israeli at heart. [Applause]...
I come to you - in the midst of a great global conflict against evil with a simple message: Be Not Afraid. I do not say this as a foreigner, cavalier in my estimation of the dangers that surround you. Instead I say it as an ally... My country is not ignorant, nor are we indifferent to your struggle. We know our victory in the war on terror depends on Israel's survival. And we know Israel's survival depends on the willingness of free nations - especially our own - to stand by all endangered democracies in their time of need. We hear your voice cry out in the desert, and we will never leave your side.
Because freedom and terrorism cannot co-exist.
...
Those who call this world-view "simplistic" are more than welcome to share their "sophisticated" theories at any number of international debating clubs. But while they do, free nations of courage will fight and win this war. Israel's liberation from Palestinian terror is an essential component of that victory. And it's a *liberation* we are determined to secure - not merely a paper-thin ceasefire.
False security is no security, and murderers who take 90-day vacations are still murderers. [Here, Arutz-7's Haggai Seri noted that the applause was limited only to right-wing MKs.]...
The violence must stop. An immediate and total end to Palestinian terrorism is not a concession the civilized world asks of the Palestinian Authority in order to advance the peace process. It is a prerequisite to the Palestinian Authority's invitation *to* it....
In short, it is the position of the people of the United States, as expressed by their representatives in Congress, that Israel's fight *is our fight.* And so shall it be until the last terrorist on earth is in a cell or a cemetery.
...By their nature, democracies neither enable terror nor instigate war. Citizens in democracies are too busy engaging in Tikkun Olam - "repairing the world." Raising their children. Supporting their families. Strengthening their communities. ...
Standing up for good against evil is hard work. It costs money and it costs blood, but after September 11, 2001, it's a price we are determined to pay. On that day, we left behind forever the illusion that terrorism was someone else's problem. We were thrust into the horrible reality of terror that your nation has long endured. We learned on that day what Israelis have known for decades: that evil cannot long be ignored or accommodated...
The American people stand with you, and so does our President. ...
The [Palestinian people's] plight is real: they have been oppressed and abused by a pernicious enemy. But their enemy is not Israel, nor its people, nor its democratic government. Their enemy is Yasser Arafat. Their enemy is Hamas, Hizbullah, and the vast network of violent men who threaten this region like so many desert scorpions...
Israel is not the problem; Israel is the solution!
I sincerely hope Abu Mazen is the man to finally rid his people of the terrorist elements among them. He may be. I don't know.... Yasser Arafat must be isolated... President Bush [said], "The Middle East needs leaders of vision and courage..." These leaders must not only renounce terrorism, but eradicate it. They must acknowledge Israel's right to exist, secure in its borders, for all time...
May the G-d of Abraham continue to bless the United States, Israel, and each and every one of you.