"Stand for Israel" - A Speech by Tom Delay which is magnificient

I especially want to thank my good friend Tom Lantos for being here, and for standing like a rock on behalf of Israel all these years.

As we meet tonight, something extraordinary is happening on the other side of the world. Hundreds of thousands of trained and dedicated volunteers – an army of virtue – are liberating a nation. Mile by mile, a blood-thirsty dictator's grip on a noble people slips.

Town by town, Iraqi families realize what the smiling men in camouflage uniforms have won for them. And day by day, children awaken, for the first morning of their lives, to God's freedom. This is the meaning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Greater love hath no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. Yet today in Iraq, liberating armies are risking their own lives in a land – and for a people – they have never before met.

For as we meet tonight, in that same part of the world, violent men plot the deaths of school children. These men view innocent human life as a means to an end and murder as a propaganda technique.

These men act outside the boundaries of humanity, let alone the tenets of their faith. And these men support a career-terrorist too long tolerated by the civilized world.

Tonight our thoughts are with the people Israel, and it is on their behalf, the courageous who live every day in the crosshairs of such men, that I accept this award and proudly count myself a “Friend of Israel.”

After Operation Iraqi Freedom is won – and it will be – international attention, necessarily focused on the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime, will disperse.

There will be the rebuilding of Iraq and its welcome return to the community of nations. There will be a simmering crisis in North Korea. There will be strained relationships with old friends to address and a blossoming alliance with the surging powers of New Europe to solidify.

And there will be, as we well know, calls on Israel to set aside decades of experience and once again trust the words and paper of a terrorist entity bent on her destruction.

Voices will call on the United States to serve as an “honest broker” in negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.

They will call on Israel to “take risks for peace.” As a friend of Israel, and a lover of liberty for all God's children, we must reject any suggestion that its government negotiate from weakness, stand on an even moral footing with suicide bombers, or trust the promises of terrorists.

Our qualms are not with the Palestinian people, but their self-appointed leaders. Yassir Arafat and his thugs do not serve the interests of the Palestinian people. They are exploiters: in business today, as always, only for themselves.

They perpetuate violence and misery in a country that has known too much of both.

Negotiating with these men – “who sharpen their tongues like swords” – is folly, and any agreement arrived at through such empty negotiations would amount to a covenant with death, as generations of Israelis have witnessed.

Yassir Arafat and his cronies are enemies of peace, and a threat to the community of civilized nations.

The Palestinian people, used as pawns by Arafat's regime, do not desire this existence. More and more of them are coming to realize the barriers to this new life are not in Ariel Sharon's cabinet, but Yassir Arafat's compound.

Palestinians, and the Arab world at large, tragically, have only their corrupt leaders to blame for their economic deprivation: not Americans, and not Israelis.

In Iraq today, we are making a stand against oppressive terror. It is not the first time, and it won't be the last.

The United States and its allies will no longer live in fear of terrorist networks of global reach, nor of their state sponsors. That is why we are at war tonight in Iraq. We are disarming a dangerous regime because it threatens the security of the world.

The President has directed his advisors to craft a plan to do it with a speed and precision never before witnessed in the history of war.

The plan is working. The military is advancing. And the under-informed talking heads of the media elite are dead wrong.

The President is a man of faith and a man of confidence, but it must frustrate him to hear the incessant carping of Blow-Dried Napoleons, hunkered-down in their air-conditioned studios night after night on the 24-hour news networks.

Peter Arnett thinks a war plan that advanced hundreds of miles in less than a week is a failure. Geraldo Rivera drew a map in the sand of American positions for our enemies to see.

Thankfully, President Bush has also drawn in the sand: a line beyond which the civilized world will not accept the behavior of evil men. We will free ourselves from terrorist threats, and free those who live under terrorist regimes.

Americans have defended our freedom for more than 200 years. Israelis have done the same for more than 50. We are opposed by many of the same enemies, who use many of the same tactics. Israel's fight is our fight: against terror, and for humanity.

The United States, therefore, cannot serve as a disinterested broker between an ally and its terrorist enemy.

There is no moral equivalence between an aggressor and a man who defends himself against aggression, just as there is no moral equivalence between terrorists and the Israeli government sworn to stop them, despite the absurd assertions of the State Department's newly released Human Rights Report.

This Report is designed to document the human rights conditions in countries around the globe; however, it compares the human rights record of a free, tolerant, and pluralistic nation with that of a terrorist network. There is no comparison, and to assert one is ridiculous.

Israel is governed by democratically-elected representatives; the Palestinian Authority is governed by a gang of murderers.

Experience and common sense lead to one conclusion about America's proper role in the Middle East: we are absolutely right to stand with Israel, and our opponents are absolutely wrong.

The moral ambiguities of our diplomatic elites notwithstanding, Israel is not the problem; Israel is the solution!

The House of Representatives said as much – shouted, in fact, by a margin of 352 to 21 – by passing the resolution Congressman Lantos and I sponsored last year.

The resolution affirmed America's solidarity with Israel, supported Israel's right to self-defense, urged all Arab states to denounce all forms of terrorism, and encouraged the alleviation of the needs of the Palestinian people.

Any viable plan for peace must require the Palestinian Authority do the same and to permanently sever ties with those who do not.

President Bush has laid out a bold vision to this extent. He has made it clear Israel must have a right to defend herself and that the Palestinian Authority must stop its acts of terror once and for all.

Certain parties to the peace process, more interested in appeasing aggression than combating terrorism, have forfeited their right to leadership on this issue.

The United States is the world's defender of freedom, and Israel is one of our greatest allies.

We won't allow anyone to reward terrorists and terrorist acts, least of all nations and organizations who appeased Saddam Hussein and who continue to appease Yassir Arafat.

This struggle is one of good versus evil; nations and organizations who fail to distinguish between the two disqualify themselves from input on this matter.

The President understands Israel must not be asked to negotiate with the men terrorizing its innocent civilians even as we speak.

The violence must stop, period. When it does, and not before, the Palestinian people will have a viable opportunity for peace.

Thankfully, President Bush understands that no peace process worthy of its name can be obscured by appeasers or moral relativists. He understands that “process”, for its own sake, is not the goal: the security of our ally is. And no Quartet of Appeasement will obscure that fact.

Though tested by generations of fire, the people of Israel do not exhibit malice or seek revenge. Much like everyday Palestinians, they want peace and the security to live their lives, free from want and free from fear. They are not fools and should not be expected to bargain with murderers.

But when a new generation of Palestinian leaders rises, with a real and lasting peace as their goal – and, more importantly, the authority and will to deliver it – a comprehensive solution may finally be attainable.

Israel should not be expected to offer substantive concessions, while the Palestinian leaders offer only empty promises.

Israel should have the freedom to defend its national security and to negotiate at a time and on terms set by its democratic government, not those imposed by anyone else.

To be a friend of Israel demands no less than supporting her through these difficult days, as well as the better ones we all know await her people in the future.

Despite decades of terror in the holy cradle of faith, we must hope, as did a 15-year old girl hiding in Amsterdam, writing in her diary, less than a month before she was taken to Auschwitz: “I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.”

Through God's Grace, the friendship of the United States and Israel will endure to see the dreams of that girl fill the whole world with light and truth forever.

I May Not Know a Matzoh Ball From a Baseball... But I Know We Must Support Israel
AP| 2/12/2003 | Rep. Tom DeLay

Editor`s Note: The following is a slightly condensed version of an address delivered by Representative DeLay (R- TX) to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Boca Raton , Florida, on the evening of Feb. 1, the day of the Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Friends, we gather tonight on an evening of sorrow and national mourning in both the United States and Israel. We lost some courageous explorers earlier today.

Seven daring dreamers knew the full measure of danger they risked, and they shouldered those risks and pushed through the last boundary.

At this moment, America and Israel grieve together. I can think of no two nations that are so connected by so many timeless truths. We are kindred nations and tonight we are siblings in mourning.

Let us recall Nehemiah`s prayer repeating God`s instructions to Moses:

“If you return to me and obey my commands then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.”

In these moments of loss, we confront the ancient questions that torment the human mind: Persevere, or relent? Survive, or surrender?

Of all the peoples of the Earth, the House of Israel has answered these questions most defiantly.

You have persevered. You have survived. And you have prospered.

This is so because each of you has chosen to view the calamities of history not as ultimate defeats.

Power of the God of Abraham

Six million Jews died in the Holocaust. Almost all of European Jewry destroyed. Yet, the creation of the State of Israel was the answer of the Jewish people.

As you know, an Israeli astronaut, Colonel Ilan Ramon, was aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. He carried a drawing made by a Jewish child who died at Auschwitz.

That child, Peter Ginz, depicted the Earth as viewed from mountains on the Moon. Colonel Ramon himself said, “I feel that my journey fulfills the dream of Peter Ginz 58 years on.”

This is the great power of the God of Abraham that has blessed the Jewish people. It is what carries you from destruction to ever-greater glory.

I believe that the American people possess this same spirit.

President Theodore Roosevelt said, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

As the most fitting tribute to the astronauts who perished, let us recommit ourselves to the defining dream that dominated their lives: a bold vision for America and Israel in space.

I want to thank you again for having me here this evening. As sadness and loss surrounds all of us, it is good to be with men and women I call my friends.

Together, we have arrived at a defining hour in the history of free nations. And it is true that we live in an uncertain time.

Freedom on the March

Yet, I have never been more certain of the greatness of our nation. I come before you this evening with a message: freedom is on the march, and tyranny is in retreat.

Of course, our enemies have not surrendered. We are still at war, and total victory remains a distant objective, but we have great reasons for optimism.

President Bush, a man of remarkable courage, has rallied the nation. Our mission is clear. Our leader is strong. And our commitment is unwavering. The moral and military might of the United States has been enlisted in the pursuit of a principled foreign policy. It is a policy of timeless truths, and not passing conveniences. It is a policy that serves all nations, and not just one people.

America has embarked on a war of liberation. And while that war will be fought in different ways in different places, the objective is unchanging: spreading self- government, human rights, and the rule of law throughout the world.

All of you are part of this struggle that now must be our consuming focus. And as members of the Republican Jewish Coalition, you are making a special contribution that merits special recognition.

In particular, I want to congratulate you on the coalition-building initiatives you have launched across the country. That grassroots work -- actually reaching out to people in their own communities -- represents the foundation of effective advocacy.

Through such efforts, the Republican Jewish Coalition is making certain that our message is reaching a record number of Jewish Americans.

As you know, this success is the product of a compelling vision for our country and for the world. And that vision is freedom, democracy, and human rights for all people everywhere.

I do not have to explain to this audience that Saddam Hussein cannot be allowed to threaten the United States and the world with weapons of mass destruction.

But all of us -- you and me and every individual who shares our convictions -- need to explain the case for standing by all democracies under siege. And we need to direct that explanation to our fellow Americans and, most forcefully, to the other nations of the world.

American support for our democratic friends is not arbitrary. Rather, it is driven by an unwavering allegiance to the qualities and characteristics that define civilization.

This remarkable process has resulted in a diverse coalition of U.S. allies, all of whom share not a common religion, or language, or color, but a common commitment to timeless ideals.

It is the message of the Exodus and Sinai shouted throughout the world.

As a result, the brotherhood of free nations includes wonderfully different members: Japan and Turkey; Italy and Taiwan; Poland and India.

And of course, this brotherhood includes the State of Israel.

Matzoh Balls and Baseballs

It is easy to forget the magnitude of Israel’s success.

Israel is an oasis of liberty and humanity surrounded by a desert of hostility and aggression. And as all of you know, this liberty and humanity have produced great things.

In 2000, Israel`s Gross Domestic Product was $17,700 per person. In Lebanon it was $5,000, in Syria $1,000, in Jordan $1,500, in Egypt $1,420, and in the West Bank controlled by Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat, it was $1,500.

Within Israel, people are educated longer and more successfully. Israel has produced almost universal literacy. With the exception of Jordan, only between half and three- quarters of the people in neighboring countries can read.

Infant mortality rates in Israel are between five and eight times lower than in neighboring countries.

People in Israel also tend to live at least ten years longer than those living in the undemocratic regimes that surround it.

Is this correlation between self-government and prosperity nothing more than an uncanny coincidence?

Of course it isn`t. And U.S. support for nations that practice democracy, respect human rights, and uphold the rule of law is no coincidence either.

So, the question is not, “How can America be so loyal to the Jewish state?”

No, the real question is, “How could we be anything other than loyal to the Jewish state?”

Just consider for a moment that Israel has a fair, free national election, and no one thinks anything of it. Yet we can only dream about such an election occurring anywhere else in the region.

Every once in a while someone says to me, “You`re an evangelical Christian from Sugar Land, Texas. You don`t know a matzoh ball from a baseball. So why do you care so much about defending Israel?”

And here`s the answer: it`s the right thing to do.

Of course, I hope that the Jewish community will recognize, in increasing numbers, the commitment of the Republican Party to the security and prosperity of Israel.

But in the end, that`s not what`s really important.

The United States has an obligation to help good and free people defend themselves against evil killers. Meeting that obligation is what`s important.

And I can tell you that the president of the United States feels exactly the same way. You hear it in his voice, you see it in his eyes, and you know it by his actions.

Unfortunately, some of the nations of Europe have taken a very different and disturbing view. As I remarked when I spoke to you last year in Washington, I am repulsed by the manner in which those countries have abdicated their responsibilities.

Germany and France, in particular, appear entirely unwilling to stand against aggression and international violence.

They would have us believe that Yasir Arafat’s henchmen and the State of Israel`s soldiers are moral equals. They would have us accept that Saddam Hussein only needs more time to disarm.

Such thinking can only be described as terribly misguided.

And such thinking has serious consequences.

America Will Never Abandon Israel

Despite our president`s best efforts to avoid conflict, I fear that only war will lead to the end of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and to the beginning of a free Iraq.

Action against Saddam Hussein is likely to be accompanied by a wave of terror against Israel. And the aftermath of the conflict is likely to be accompanied by a new round of European discussions about how Israel needs to make concessions for peace.

During this period, the U.S.-Israel alliance will be tested. And we need to be certain that the Europeans and others understand that America will never abandon our ally and friend.

Fortunately, we have a president who will leave no doubt.

On June 18, 1940, Winston Churchill rose before the House of Commons and said the following:

“Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”

My friends, the fanatics know that to defeat Israel would be to strike a crippling blow against the whole free world. In this way, the Israel of our day and the Great Britain of 1940 are remarkably similar.

In the weeks and months ahead, let us rededicate ourselves to our common mission, the defense of freedom.

And let us pray, as Abraham Lincoln did, that we receive that Divine Assistance without which we cannot hope to succeed, but with which success is certain.

I would like to end this evening by reciting with you the last portion of the Kaddish in remembrance of Colonel Ramon:

Oseh shalom beem`roh`mahv, hoo ya`aseh shalom, aleynu v`al kohl Yisrael v`eemru: Amen.

(He Who makes peace in His heights, may He make peace, upon us and upon all Israel. Now respond: Amen.)

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