Barrasso: America Must Respect Israel’s Right as a Democracy to Choose Its Own Destiny

Floor Speech

“Every year on this floor, a senator reads George Washington’s Farewell Address.

This year Senator Cardin, who is retiring from this body, was given the honor of reading the Address. It’s so we in the Senate remember the lessons from George Washington.

So let’s reflect on what's in George Washington’s Farewell Address, and it is this quote: ‘Foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican government.’

Well, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate certainly knows that.

Because four years ago, he quoted these very same words.

Yet he ignored them totally today in this body when it comes to our ally Israel.

Hours ago, the senior senator from New York crossed the line by calling for a new government in Israel.

Let’s be clear: Israel is a democracy. It makes its own choice about who they want to lead them. It doesn’t need to have a senator from New York’s interference.

The senator also made the outrageous statement that the Prime Minister of Israel, in the words of the senator from New York, is a ‘obstacle to peace.’

This is exactly backwards. It is the terrorists, the rapists, the murderers of Hamas who are the obstacles to peace.

Let us be clear: Demonizing our friends is not going to protect them from the brutality of Hamas. It only works to alienate our allies. It puts our common goals of peace further out of reach.

Israel deserves an ally that the people of Israel can trust – most especially when they are battling terrorists.

Senators on both sides of the aisle in this body have affirmed that Israel has every right to defend itself.

We must also respect Israel’s right as a democracy to choose its own destiny.”

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