WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) answered a question from Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) after delivering a floor speech today regarding President Biden’s assertion that he would not supply certain weapons for Israel to use in Rafah.
Senator Coons has repeatedly said that if Israel moves forward with a full-fledged military operation in Rafah without taking into account its obligation to protect civilians and facilitate the distribution of aid, the United States should consider restricting security assistance. While affirming the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel today, he emphasized that we cannot ignore the consequences of using American weapons at scale in a heavily populated location where refugees have sought refuge at Israeli instruction.
As Chair of the Appropriations subcommittee that handles foreign assistance, Senator Coons has continued to fight for and secure billions in humanitarian aid for Gaza and other regions facing acute food insecurity and famine.
A transcript is available below:
Senator Cornyn: Madam President, I have a great deal of respect for the Senator from Delaware, and we work well together on the Judiciary Committee and always operated in good faith, even though we sometimes have differences of opinion. And I know he spends a lot of time thinking about national security and foreign relations affairs, and he’s traveled the world and knows more leaders of the different countries around the world than I ever will. But I do know that since he shares the concerns about the status, particularly the American citizens who are hostages in Gaza, I’d just like to get some idea from him what his thoughts are about the administration’s pause on weapons delivery to … Israel. And let me predicate this by saying, you know, I remember back when, of course, we were concerned about Al Qaeda in Fallujah[Iraq], where the Marines fought a terrible battle. And unfortunately, anytime there’s a conflict, there’s going to be civilian casualties, and obviously, the goal is to minimize those casualties. Likewise, in places like Mosul, where ISIS made its last stand in Iraq. And I’d just like to get some ideas from the Senator, if he would be so kind as to share with me sort of what his thoughts are about what Israel is supposed to do in Rafah, obviously to satisfy the concerns about civilian collateral damage, but also in a way that allows Israel to eliminate the terrorist threat?
Senator Coons: Madam President, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to what is a pressing concern for so many of us. I’ll simply reflect on my last in-person meeting with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and Defense Minister [Yoav] Gallant, in Israel, now many weeks ago. It was part of a visit I made to a number of countries in the region. But I spoke directly to this, and I believe what I’m saying also reflects the views of the administration: Of course, the United States stands strongly behind Israel and its defense and its security. [U.S.] Secretary of Defense [Lloyd] Austin, when asked this same question about what it might mean that there were pauses or reviews of weapons deliveries, what that might mean: Just yesterday, he said that the administration of the United States retains an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and defense, as just demonstrated a few weeks ago, when we worked together with Israel, with the U.K., with France, with [the] Saudi kingdom, and with Jordan to provide their defense against 300 missiles and drones launched at Israel by Iran.
So, what is it that we’re saying with regards to Rafah? What I said to the Prime Minister was, you don’t just have the right to defend the Israeli people against Hamas; you have the obligation. After October 7, you have to restore a sense of security and deterrence against this terrorist organization that massacred more Jews, more civilians; 1,200 people of a wide range of backgrounds, in fact. It was the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust. But many who are still held captive beneath Gaza by Hamas are from a dozen different nations, languages, and religions. You have to go after them. You have to finish the job. You have to go into Rafah and go after these four remaining battalions, and you have to secure Gaza and make certain that Hamas does not reemerge as a fighting force that can ever threaten Israel again. And, given that there are a million civilian refugees who’ve flown down to the very bottom of Gaza and are now up against the hard border with Egypt, and given that Egypt will not allow any of them into Egypt, you have to provide a pathway for civilians to leave Rafah before you go in at scale – with a bombing campaign, a ground campaign – to minimize civilian injuries and deaths. If there are 10,000 or so Hamas fighters remaining in Rafah, and if the multiplier, to use a crass term, has been two to onecivilian deaths for every Hamas fighter killed, to contemplate 20 or 30,000 more civilian deaths in Rafah is to contemplate a horrifying outcome.
But it is not acceptable to leave Hamas in control of a segment of Gaza and capable of returning. So, what is it I am hoping and expecting Israel will do? To relocate all of the civilians in Rafah, north in Gaza; screen them so that none of the leaders of Hamas or the fighters of Hamas escape; to provide for humanitarian aid and for shelter in another part of Gaza; and then to go in at scale, get into the tunnels, secure the release of the hostages, if possible, and finish the job. That is difficult, but in my view, doable. And for us to ignore the consequences of using American weapons at scale in a very heavily concentrated place where there’s a million refugees there because they were told to move south as the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] carried out its justified campaign against Hamas over the last six months – would be to undertake a tragic loss of life that is needless.