On July 25, 2014 Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, representing the Bronx and Westchester asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of representatives for one minute regarding the war fighting in Gaza:
“Madam Speaker, the war in Gaza continues. Every human life that is killed is a tragedy, particularly those of civilians, but I think it is important to put it in perspective. The fight is not between Israelis and Palestinians. The fight is between Israelis and Hamas, which is a terrorist organization.
Week after week, month after month, year after year, Hamas has lobbed missiles into the Israeli civilian population–killing Israelis, maiming Israelis. Israel is fighting back in order to try to stop the onslaught of Hamas.
What would we do, Madam Speaker, if missiles came over the border from Canada or from Mexico, attacking population areas of the United States? Of course, we would go over the border and attempt to stop the terrorists who were doing that to our civilians.
That is precisely what Israel is doing, and quite frankly, the media coverage of the war in Gaza has been absolutely one-sided against Israel and absolutely disgraceful.
Hamas uses its people as human shields. They build bomb factories and missile factories in heavily populated civilian areas. So, when civilians are killed, it is the fault of Hamas, not the fault of Israel, which has tried to defend its way of life and defend its citizens.
I am proud that America stands with Israel, and we will continue to do so”, said Engel.
Source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov/
Rep. Engel serves on the following Committees and subcommittees in Congress: