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| SENATOR RAND PAUL |
TRAGEDY IN ISRAEL
This week, three young boys were buried in Israel. The victims of kidnapping, they had been murdered by terrorists from Hamas.
The boys, Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frenkel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.–Israeli citizen, were like any other children — their lives ready to be lived, their dreams ahead of them. They grew up in a nation that was at war but desperately wanted peace. It is a peace they did not live to see, nor will others their age if action is not taken.
The Obama administration responded with its condolences to the families and to the state of Israel, as well it should have. But it also called, as it always does in situations like this, for restraint on the part of Israel.
How many times must Israel hear this call? Children are murdered — please show restraint. Cafés and buses are bombed — please show restraint. Towns are victimized by hundreds of rockets — please show restraint while you bury your dead once again.
I think it is clear by now: Israel has shown remarkable restraint. It possesses a military with clear superiority over that of its Palestinian neighbors, yet it does not respond to threat after threat, provocation after provocation, with the type of force that would decisively end their conflict. But sometimes restraint can work against you. Sometimes you just have to say, enough is enough.
Nearly six weeks ago, I proposed a bill called the “Stand With Israel Act.” Its purpose was to cut off the flow of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority if it allied with Hamas — the same Hamas that just murdered these three teenagers.
So let’s be clear: U.S. taxpayer money may soon be going to an entity kidnapping and murdering Israeli and U.S. children. That is unconscionable, and it must end.
There are those who have said my bill is unnecessary, that current law will allow the Obama administration to cut off the aid money.
I don’t believe that, and no supporter of Israel should believe that.
Remember, the Obama administration did not respond to these murders by calling for Palestinian/Hamas aid to be cut off. Instead, they called for “restraint.” The Obama administration chose to lecture Israel instead of punish the perpetrators.
I call for all aid to the Palestinian Authority — every penny — to be cut off. Not one more U.S. taxpayer dollar should flow to Hamas or to the Palestinian Authority as long as it is allied with Hamas.
Some say my position is too hard-line, too strong. To them I say, how many more children must die before it is acceptable to cut off the flow of money to terrorists?
I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting my Stand with Israel Act, and urge the Senate to take action immediately upon its return.
I asked for unanimous consent to pass this bill weeks ago. I will do so again next week. Whoever wants to come down to object will need to explain to the parents of these teenagers why the United States of America is funding their murderers.
— Rand Paul represents Kentucky in the U.S. Senate.
Source
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/381726/tragedy-israel-rand-paul
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FOX NEWS comments on Senator Rand Paul
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| The murdered Israeli teens |
Senator Rand Paul has also initiated a bill to suspend US aid to the Palestinian authority that ends up as salaries for terrorists who kill Jews.
From his criticism of the Federal Reserve to his mean libertarian streak, Sen. Rand Paul is certainly his father's son. But on the issue of Israel, the Kentucky Republican falls far from the tree.
The first-term senator -- whose father Ron Paul was a staunch critic of America's Israel policy and seen in some circles as outright hostile to the Jewish state -- has in recent months taken a distinctly different attitude toward the U.S.-Israel relationship.
He visited Israel in January 2013. He calls himself an Israel supporter. And after the tragic abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank, Paul has ratcheted up those statements of support even more. "Let's stand with Israel," Paul told Fox News this week.
In response to the deaths of the Israeli teens, the senator who often rails against military intervention showed a hawkish side, in a blistering column that would have been unimaginable coming from his father.
In the column, published in the National Review, he criticized the Obama administration for issuing -- alongside offering its condolences -- a call for restraint.
In Washington, Paul, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, is now renewing the push for a bill that would effectively cut off aid to the Palestinian government. Paul introduced the Stand with Israel Act in late April, calling for a halt to U.S. aid to the Palestinian government unless they meet certain conditions like recognizing Israel's right to exist and renouncing terrorism -- steps unlikely to happen if a unity deal between Hamas (which controls the Gaza Strip) and Fatah (which controls the West Bank) holds.
Though the teenagers' deaths are under investigation -- and both sides are clashing over the death of an Arab teenager, allegedly at the hands of Israeli extremists -- Paul argues that U.S. aid could soon be going to those who perpetrated the abductions.
"Most Americans would be appalled if they knew that American tax dollars could soon be going to Hamas," he told Fox News, saying he plans to press the matter again in the Senate next week. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that no money ever goes to Hamas," he said. "Israel's being attacked on a daily basis by Hamas."
Paul has spoken out against foreign aid in virtually all forms during his four years in the Senate, and previously slammed aid to Israel as well. But he has since modified that position, calling for the U.S. to first suspend aid to countries and entities hostile to U.S. interests, and eventually wean Israel off the Washington spigot.
The senator's father, a longtime Texas congressman and three-time presidential candidate, spoke out against U.S. aid to Israel as well. But he also repeatedly voted against Israel on the floor, including opposing a 2009 resolution recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from the Gaza Strip during the Gaza War. He was the only Republican to oppose that resolution. His son's column this week in the National Review took the opposite stance.
Some are skeptical of Paul's Israel stance and his latest Palestinian aid cutoff bill, which have been the subject of numerous columns in American and Israeli media. The statements from the younger Paul come as he and an already-crowded potential field of in-demand Republicans weigh whether to run for the White House in 2016.
While Paul is burnishing his foreign policy chops, so is the man seen as his closest contemporary, and perhaps rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Cruz traveled to Israel earlier this year. Cruz also took a swipe at Paul during an interview in March with ABC News. "I'm a big fan of Rand Paul. He and I are good friends. I don't agree with him on foreign policy," Cruz said. "I think U.S. leadership is critical in the world."
Paul, in response, told Fox News that Cruz was "mischaracterizing" his views. "I've always been a big fan of peace through strength," Paul said
Source
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/04/like-father-not-like-son-sen-paul-amplifies-pro-israel-message/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29
RELATED
Progressive pro-Palestinian Jews oppose Rand Paul's bill to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority. (These are the same Jews who vote for Democrat politicians who promote policies that weaken Israel's security.)
Read more - http://freebeacon.com/national-security/aipac-oppose-bill-to-cut-u-s-aid-to-palestinians/
The treasonous Jewish left
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/06/the-israeli-lefts-perverted-and.html
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