Mr. President i rise to speak today about what i believe can and should be the secure mutuald lasting prosperity for israelis and palestinians. Vg i speak for myself but i also speak for so many mainstream Jewish Americans. The silent major i nuanced views have never been well representative with this countrys discussions about the war ins schumer. It derives sure me hebrew word. Of course my first responsibility is to america into new york but as the first jewish majority leer of the United States senate and the highestranking jewish elected official in america ever i also feel very keenly my responsibility as a guardian for the people of israel. Throughout jewish history there had been many and plenty who are far greater than ila nonetheless this is a position which i find myself now at a time of great difficulty in the state of israel for the jewish people and for nonjewish friends of israel. So i feel an immense obligation to sak and to act. I speak as a member of a community of Jewish Americans that i know very well and family and friends. Many of them are my constituents and many of them are democrats and they are deeply concerned about the pursuit justice both in new york and around the globe. The world to do what is right. We love israel in our bones. What isr■nael has meant my generation with delivering memory of the holocaust is impossible to measure. The flowering from the ashes of the holocaust and the fulfillment of the jewish homeland after nearly 2000 years of praying and waiting. It represents one of the most heartfelt causes of my life. I remember how hard it was. I remember clutching my transistor radio totr m ear in James Madison high school in 1957 during the sixday war wondering if israel would be pusheda. If the events of the last few months have made anything clear it is that israel is surrounded by enemies and there are many pele world who excuse and even support their aims to expel and kill jewish People Living in their harwo re. I will never underestimate the great threats israel faces when its existence nor will i ever underestimate the oppression of the jewish people that they have endured for millennia. Its precisely a t longstanding connection to concern for the state of israel and its people that i speak today about what i view as the most pressing an existential threat to israels longterm peace and prosperity. After five months of suffering on both sides of the conflict are thinking must turn urgent at how we can achieve lasting peace and and security for both the jewish people and the Palestinian People in the middle i believe to achieve that lasting peace which we so long for israel must make somet forcs which i will outline in this speech. But first lets not forget how we arrived at this criticalnt. What hamas did on october 7 was brutal beyond imagination. I have sat with the families of those children and seen the footage and heard the stories of innocents murdered in raped and cruelty. As long as never forget these images these appear in premeditated. Many of my family members were killed by and the holocaust. October 7 the shameless support of that attack by so many in america and around the globe awakened the deepest fears the jewish people that our annihilation remains a possibity. Today over 130 hostages remain captive in gaza. Im anguished by the plight of so many hostages being trapped deep inside of hamas time ill come a network of tamils and i pray for them. I pray for their families whove inspired me with their tenacious advocacy to ensure their loved ones are not forgotten. Many of them are some are my constituents in new york. We tragically learned this week he was brutally killed on october 7 was serving near the gaza border. Hamas still holds his body and this is then im wearing in remembrance of him as those americans. I have sat with many of families and i have wept with him. Each day that their loved ones dont come home carries enough anguish and grief to last a lifetime a lifetime. Im working in every way to support the fight ministrations to free every last one of t hostages and israelis for by demonstrations the qataris and e everything possible. Hamas has been given a deal already and they should say yes. There is no time to. My heart also breaks for the loss of so many civilian lives. Im anguished that the israelis were campaigned killed so many innocent palestinians but i know my fellow Jewish Americans feel the same anguish when they see g children and destroyed homes. Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe. Entire families were wiped out and whole neighborhoods and mass displacement with children suffering. We should not let the complexities of this conflict full stop this from stating the plain truth. Palestinian civilians do not deserve to suffer for the sins of hamas in israel has a moral obligation to do better. The United States has an oblition to do better. I believe the United States must provide a robust humanitarian aid to gaza and pressure the israelis to let more of a get through to the people who need it. The jewish people throughout the ose whond are suffering and are oppressed because we have been through so much ourselves. Every human life is precious and every human life whether is a tragedy and as the scripture says quote it destroys the entire world. It horrifies so many jews especially that israel is falling sho of upholding these Jewish Values that we hold so dear. We must be better than our enemies lest we become them put israel has a fundamental right to defend itself but as ive said from the beginning of this war how it exercises that right. Israel must prioritize the protection of civilianil casualties when identifying military targets. I have repearnment to do so. It i also must be said that isrl is by no means the only one responsible fo the immense civilian toll. To blame only israel for the deaths of palestinians is■j■ unfair, onesided and often deliberately manipulative and it ignores hamass role in this conflict. Hamas has knowingly invited a civilian toll during this war. Their goal on october 7 was to provoke a killing as many jews s possible in the most manner possible, womenus executing babs brutalizing whole communities. Since then hamas has heartlessly hidden behind their fellow palestiaspitals and two command centers in refugee camps into missile launching sites. It is welldocumented thatin ths as human shields. The leaders of hamas, many of om with les of luxuries in places far away from the poverty and misfortunen of gaza do not care one iota about the palestinians whoy claim to know. It bothers me deeply that most Media Outlets covering this war and many protesters■ it have placed the blame for civilian casualties entirely on israel. All too often in the media and the protests it is never noted that hamas has gone to Great Lengths to make themselves inseparable from the civilian population in gaza by using palestinians as human shields to too many news agencies, television stations, newspapers give hamasge path and hardly ever discovering this practice that central to their fitting strategy and this has ledo harsh realities of this war. I believe stories that justifiably mentioned the loss of innocent palestinian life should also know how hamas uses civilians as human shields. It almost never happens. At juste loss of innocent palestinian women, men and children should also denounced hamas for their. When protesters decry the loss of t palestinian life but never lives, it compounds in deeply troubles the vast majority of jewish and nonJewish Americans alike. Given that hamas launch their attacks on october■÷iven hamas t the ensuing civilian toll in gaza, given that hamas wants israelis and to be at each others throats with tensions on both sides have dramatically intensified. ■ka as a result of e inflamed tensions in israeli and palestinian communities people on all sides of this war are turning away from a twostate solution. Including israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu who in recent weeks has said out loud repeatedly what many have ■ long suspected by outright rejecting the idea of Palestinian Statehood andle sovereignty. As the highestranking jewish; electe our government and a staunch defender of israel erased two days to say unequivocally this is a mistake for israel, for palestinians for the region and for the world. The only real and sustainable solution to this decadesold conflict is a negotiated twostate solution a demilitarized palestinian state living sidebyside with israel in equal measures of peace, security prosperity and dignity and mutual recognition. Both jews and palestinians have long historic claims to this land. Offensive claims by some that the jewish people are colonizers in their ancestral the jewish people have lived in the homeland continuously for more than threear millennia, 300 years. For centuries jew have made and gone to the land of israel tott settle and for centuries te passover jews at every corner of the globe have. Next year in jerusalem. The jewish homeland in israel u. Israels our historic home, home for people oppressed for centuries. Now the palestinians to have lived on the land for generations and the passengers they have formed their own distinct culture, identity cuisine and the idea espoused by, some quote theres no such thing as palestinians unquote is an inaccurate and offensive and unhelpful. The o only just solution to this predicament is one in which each people converged in their own statebyside but for a twostate solution to work over the long term it have to include real and meaningful on both sides. For example to many israelis say they won want a twostate solution dont acknowledge how they amount amounted expensive settlements renders it a virtual impossibility in too many paleinont acknowledge how their insistence on an unequivocal right of return is a impediment to progress. Both ways of thinking are impeding the Peace Process and there are others on the left. Lo a the two state solution with skepticism as it gets a faroff goal that allows for the continuation of the status quo in gaza and the west bank and palestinians face unique obstacles compared to their israeli counterparts. As a result they reject of one state for palestinians and israelis did supposedly live sidebyside in peace. I can understand the idealism that inspire so manyan young people in particular who support a onestate solution. Wh sidebyside in house by house in peace . I count at least two reasons why this wouldnt work and why its unacceptable to most jewish people. First, thisombined stateould take an extreme turnre politically putting jewish israelis in peril. The state would be ait majority palestinian and inn the pas some have voted to empower its to eradicate the jewishis people. It policy to support democracy overseas but in this hypothetical single state extremists were to take control of this new state of affairs to openly achieve their true athe n thend land. Thousands of years of jewish history show that when things badly the people of the country in which the jews lived even in a democracy allac too often turn on them as convenient scapegoats. Theres no guarantee this wouldnt happen again in a single israelipalestinian state. To have palestinian voters be the protector of israeli jews would be a bridge too far to accept. Second and more importantly the jewish people have a right to their own state. It is so troubling to me that many people especially on the sn celebrate the right to statehood for every group but the jews. Tl people world has been the driving goal of the Anticolonial Movement of the last century than wire only jews ■u aspiration . Jews have a human right to their own state just as any other people■0 have said there are alo some israelis who opposed even a twostate and a demilitarized palestinian state because they feel it might be a harbor for terrorism against the jewish state. I understandhe these fears but e reality is that a single state control by israel which they advocate guarantees certain wr forever and further isolation of the Jewish Community and the world to the extent that its future would be jeopardized. Let me elaborate. They say theth definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over i andxp different result. If israel were to not only maintain the status quo to go beyond that and tighten its hold over gaza and the bank and dead as some in the Netanyahu Administration of suggested to remain a single state wha and their allies will lay down their arms . It would mean constant war. On top of that israel moving closer to a single state entirely under its control what further rupture its relationship with the rest of the world. Including the United States. Support for israel has been worldwide last few months and this trend will only get worse if the Israeli Government continues to follow its current path. I appreciate that so many israelis cannot contemplate now because they remain traumatized and angry at what hamas did on october 7. The brutality, the viciousness the Sexual Assault the the imprisonment and the abuse of hundreds of h of to this point of view. Im upset, and im angry too. We will never forget what happened on october 7 but even while we carried that english in our hearts we have to think ahead to the future the medium and longterm and how wedhat sr seventh never happens again. We cannot let anger determined our actions or cloud our judgment. A two the twostate solution may feel daunting especially now that i believe it is the only realistic and sustainable solution on the basis of security on the basis of prosperity and on the basis of fundamental human rights and dignity. In order to achieve a twostate solution the reality is that things must change. ■2 are four r obstacles standing in the way of two states in until they are removed from tver be peace in israel gaza and the west bank. Four major obstacles hamas and the palestinians who support and tolerate their ways, radical rightwing israelis in government Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, israeli Prime Minister benjaminuc netanyahu. I will explain each in detail. The first major obstacle to peace is hamas and the palestinians who support and tolerate their ways. Hamas is further destruction of israel in the past decade every turn. It was hamas who began his campaign of suicide bombings against innocent israelisoc to derail the nations Peace Process in oslo. It was hamas who assassinated representatives in gaza in 2007. Its hamas who held gaza under repressive undemocratic rule for close to two decades and itc is hamas who targeted those brave gazans who have spoken out against these actions that bridges the dsh americans and ia ited statesbeen which is as a organization and noble resistance attempts to excuse their on israelis and palestinians are morally. A permanent ceasefire Effective Immediately would only allow hamas to regroup and launch further attacks on israeli civilians. There can never be a twostate solution is hamas has any significant power. However a temporary ceasefire such as President Biden has forward which would allow for the return of hostages and humanitarian relief i or sufferg palestinians is quite different and something i any proposal that leaves hamas with meaningful power is unacceptable to me and most israelis. So it goes without saying that hamas cannot have any role in future gaza if we are to achieve peace. The minority palestinians who support hamas and those who demonstrate other forms of extremism if they en into the israeli territory to loot the village and the people the west bank who flooded the streets and cheered from afar the cdded killing of mothers and children. This is the calling to hate and while it may fall short of terrorism it has no place in peaceful futureael and the palestinians. Out to be denounced by the palestinian public andnd their leaders who believe in mo Sustainable Future belonged the cycle of revenge. The second major obstacle to peace is radical rightwing israelis in government and society. The worst example of this radicalism are finance minister in the ministry of national security. The minister openly called for the subjugation and forcedfo bank. In the Current Crisis is use inflammatory rhetoric and called for punitive restrictions of west bank. He is prevented the transfer of authority and depose the provision of any humanitarian assistance for gaza. Going so far as to stop shipments of flo minister dan devere is no better. When he was a young man he was barred from the Israeli Military service for his extremist views. Y a move attempting toze antagonize the Muslim Population he visited the temple mound with his supporters with a a brazen show of force towards palestinians and during his current conflict he has facilitated the mass distribution of guns to far right settlers exacerbating instability andng violence. Theres a mess to what they believe and their decision positions of authority to inflame and provoke as profoundly irresponsible and selfdestructive. In my conversations withrs israi leaders to urge them to do more and to clamp down on the unacceptable vigilante settler violence in the west bank and i supported the bidenministrationo impose consequences for extremist settler violence but the unfortunate reality is that this violee openly supported by the minister as long as they hold their positions of while not equivalent to extremist palestinians in extremist israelis seek the sams goal. They aim to push the other from their land. ■ they may not say they want to kill all all palestinians out right but they are clear in their desire to displace them from their homes a is also. As long as these to hold their positions of power peace will be difficult if not impossible to achieve. The third major obstacle to peace is the president of the Palestinian AuthorityMa