The atrocities that have taken place in Israel over the past week are some of the worst savageries the world has ever seen.
An Op-Ed by Nicole Malliotakis. As published in Hamodia
Families slaughtered in the dead of night; innocent children burned and beheaded; young and old taken captive. It’s absolutely barbaric.
During this difficult time, the United States must unequivocally stand with our great ally Israel, and our Jewish-American neighbors, against the gross antisemitism and terror backed by Iran, perpetrated by Hamas and Hezbollah.
Because of Staten Island and South Brooklyn’s robust and vibrant Jewish community, there are many constituents with loved ones currently in Israel. Since this unjustified war began, our office’s top priority has been getting these individuals to safety by any means necessary.
I joined Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) in leading a bipartisan letter urging for immediate action from President Biden, the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense to get chartered and military planes on the ground after commercial flights were repeatedly canceled. Our office has also been coordinating with Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), an Army combat veteran on the ground in Israel, to get constituents and their loved ones to Jordan and Cyprus by bus and private aircraft so they can make a safe return to the United States.
Our push was ultimately successful with the Biden Administration slowly beginning chartered flights to Athens or Frankfurt, but it’s still not enough. Other countries like Poland, Germany, Mexico, and Canada had planes on the ground within hours conducting evacuations of their citizens. There was no reason why the U.S. was not, and currently is not, doing the same. We cannot have a repeat of Afghanistan and Ukraine; we cannot leave hundreds of thousands of Americans stranded and helpless in the face of brutal slaughter.
Israel’s security is critical to our national security, and the United States must provide Israel with the support it needs to decisively win this war. That includes precision-guided munitions, missile interceptors, and $2 billion in appropriated funds for its Iron Dome air defense system, of which I am a proud cosponsor.
Furthermore, we must also restore maximum pressure on Iran by reinstating, expanding, and enforcing all sanctions, freezing the $6 billion the Biden Administration haphazardly provided for “humanitarian” aid, rescinding all waivers, and economically crippling this terrorist regime that funds 70% of Hamas’ activities.
There will never be peace so long as the Biden Administration continues to appease our enemies with badly-negotiated deals, and the United Nations – which was established to promote peace, achieve stability, and ensure the brutality of World War II never occurs again – refuses to simply denounce this evil and continues to give the world’s worst human-rights violators a seat at the table.
While the Jewish community at home and abroad is strong, vibrant, and resilient, we cannot waver in our support for Israel’s right to exist and defend itself from those who wish to wipe its existence from the face of the Earth. Congress must put petty politics aside and come together as quickly as possible to support our greatest ally in the Middle East.
We will not let evil win.