Proposed resolution calls for legislature to condemn Hamas attacks, support State of Israel

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Senate Rules Committee unanimously passed a resolution to support the State of Israel and condemn the Hamas attacks during a special session on Monday.

Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, sponsored the resolution in the Senate and Rep. Katherine Waldron, D-Wellington, is sponsoring a similar resolution in the House.

Berman asked her colleagues “not to remain silent” as she explained the resolution.

“Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, also a Holocaust survivor, said ‘to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.’ So I am asking all of you, my colleagues, not to remain silent in the face of this horrendous action and to support this resolution,” Berman said.

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D-Davie, thanked Berman for “swift action.”

“Very shortly after the attacks happened, very early in the morning, the senator and I were on the phone talking about ways that we can stand with Israel, and I just want to thank her and the entire body here for their unwavering support…” Book said.

Beginning on Oct. 7, Hamas, a United States-designated foreign terrorist organization, commenced an “unprovoked attack on the State of Israel, killing more than 1,400 innocent individuals, including Israelis, Americans, and citizens of other nations,” the resolution said.

The resolution will “condemn the unprovoked and barbaric attacks by Hamas against Israel, its citizens, and Americans.”

It will “support right of State of Israel to exist as a sovereign and independent nation,” and “support right of Israel to defend itself.”

Additionally, the resolution will demand the “immediate end to any financial support, whether direct or indirect, of Hamas, the Iranian regime, Hezbollah, or any other entity that publicly supports these attacks and other terrorist activities.”

It will also “reject and condemn persistent threats against Jewish people, institutions, and communities in the State of Florida, the United States, and abroad, including those from individuals and organizations committed to the extermination of the Jewish people.”

The resolution said this breach of Israel’s borders represents the “most significant threat to its security” since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

“Hamas and the Iranian regime have called for the deaths of Israelis, Americans, Jews, and Christians and have sought to incite acts of domestic terrorism against Jewish people and communities around the world, including in the State of Florida,” the resolution said.

It noted the U.S. “also suffered senseless losses,” with many Americans “brutally murdered and many more missing or taken hostage.”