TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran said violence in the Middle East inspired by Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen with support from Iran should be viewed as a threat to Israel and the national security interests of the United States.
Moran, a Kansas Republican, said it was essential the United States continue military, diplomatic and humanitarian support to Israel and do more with sanctions to choke off resources used by Iran to fund dangerous activities.
“All these attacks, these three groups, what they have in common, with their varying ideologies is the support that’s provided to them by Iran. It’s financial aid, weapons or training,” Moran said during a speech on the U.S. Senate floor. “This conflict may seem distant from our shores, but make no mistake, that those who seek Israel’s destruction aspire to harm American citizens wherever they may be, including here at home.”
In the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress, Moran said Iran had plotted terrorist attacks in the United States and threatened to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
The senator said the October 2023 assault by Hamas into Israel, which killed more than 1,100 Israelis and foreign nationals and involved sexual assaults and taking of hostages, was so brutal “no person of conscience can fail to understand the desire to eliminate Hamas as a threat to the people of Israel.”
In the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups, an estimated 39,000 people in Gaza have been killed. Approximately half of the people killed have been women and children. The International Court of Justice is reviewing a case accusing Israel of genocide. Pro-Palestinian protesters in the United States and other countries have called for a ceasefire.
In an interview, Moran said “every effort has to be made to protect innocent human life” while Israel fought to root out terrorists in Gaza.
The senator said interference by Yemeni Houthi with commercial cargo vessels in the Red Sea necessitated intervention by the U.S. Navy. The exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah threatened to widen the war, Moran said, and Hezbollah’s military capabilities should be degraded.
“Israel’s existence is non-negotiable, and our shared adversaries must not doubt the resolution of American support,” Moran said.
U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, the 2nd District Republican in Kansas not seeking reelection in November, said Iran was funding and promoting anti-Israel protests in the United States.
“Antisemitic attacks have spiked across the U.S. since October 7. That’s the goal of Iran and Hamas,” LaTurner said. “Antisemitism has no place in the world and Hamas sympathizers have no place in America.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic Party’s likely nominee for president, said she supported Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, including the activities of Iran-backed militias such as Hezbollah and Hamas. She met with Netanyahu in Washington, D.C., and expressed concern about the scale of suffering among innocent civilians in Gaza.
Harris said Americans shouldn’t be numb to suffering of Palestinians and the “images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, also a Kansas Republican, said Hamas wouldn’t have attacked Israel in October if Trump hadn’t lost the 2020 campaign to President Joe Biden. Marshall asserted Trump would have deterred Hamas with “peace through strength.”
Marshall also said Harris ought to have personally attended Netanyahu’s speech to the Congress.
