Jason Smith: Standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

On October 1, the entire population of Israel was urged to immediately rush into bomb shelters to seek safety from the nearly 200 ballistic missiles launched by the evil Iranian regime. 

The massive ballistic missile strike came shortly after two terrorists carried out a shooting and stabbing attack that killed seven innocent people and injured eight others in Tel Aviv, Israel. One of the victims of the terror attack was a mother who was killed while shielding her nine-month-old child from gunfire. My heart goes out to the families of the victims. I am keeping them – as well as all Israeli citizens – in my prayers during these dangerous times.

I’m incredibly relieved that Israel was able to intercept the majority of the ballistic missiles. But the massive attack was a startling reminder of the major threat Iran and its terror groups pose to our greatest ally. This attack came almost exactly one year after the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history on October 7, 2023.

Over the last year, Israel has faced two direct, large-scale attacks from Iran. It has also been under near-constant attack by the Iranian regime’s terror proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthi rebels – a Yemen-based terror group that has also launched strikes against U.S. forces. Let me be clear: Israel has every right to do what’s necessary to keep its people safe, whether it’s holding Iran accountable for its sponsorship of terror, wiping out Palestinian terror groups, or launching military operations to take out Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.

Iran and its terror proxies would not be launching these major attacks against Israel if former President Donald Trump was in office. His support for Israel was ironclad. The U.S. was feared by our enemies and respected by our allies under his leadership. Whether it was scrapping the dangerous Iran Nuclear Deal, putting sanctions on Iran, or taking out Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, his maximum pressure campaign against the evil regime was incredibly successful. Unfortunately, the Biden-Harris administration scrapped Trump’s effective strategy.

In September 2023, the Biden-Harris administration unfroze $6 billion that was held in Qatar and made it available to Iran. A month later, the Biden-Harris administration allowed the lapse of the United Nation’s missile and long-range drone embargo on Iran. And since the Biden-Harris administration reversed Trump’s economy-crippling sanctions on Iran, the evil regime has made roughly $100 billion through global oil sales. This appeasement campaign must come to an end.

The Republican-led House has advanced numerous pieces of legislation to counter Iran – something the administration has completely failed to do. We passed legislation to impose sanctions on a broad range of activities that support Iran’s missile and drone program. We advanced a bill to sanction financial backers of Hamas and several other terror groups. In addition, we passed a measure to block Iran from accessing the $6 billion being held in Qatar and to permanently freeze $10 billion in sanctioned Iranian assets in Iraq. Importantly, we also passed legislation to give Congress the opportunity to review and disapprove of any Iran sanctions relief proposal from the president, including for a nuclear deal.

In Congress, I will continue fighting to ensure the U.S. provides Israel – our greatest ally – the resources it needs to defend itself from Iran and its terror proxies. I will also continue working to bring back Trump’s incredibly successful maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian regime – the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.