Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran says attacks on Israel threaten US security interests • Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — U.S. Senator Jerry Moran said the violence in the Middle East, inspired by Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen with support from Iran, should be seen as a threat to Israel and the national security interests of the United States.

Moran, a Kansas Republican, said it is essential that the United States continue military, diplomatic and humanitarian support to Israel and impose more sanctions to cut off the resources Iran uses to finance dangerous activities.

“All of these attacks, these three groups, what they have in common, with their different ideologies, is the support that Iran provides them. It’s financial aid, weapons, or training,” Moran said during a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. “This conflict may seem far away from our shores, but make no mistake, those who seek Israel’s destruction seek to harm American citizens wherever they may be, including here at home.”

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress, Moran said Iran had planned terrorist attacks in the United States and threatened to assassinate former President Donald Trump.

The senator said Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel, which left more than 1,100 Israelis and foreigners dead and sexually assaulted and hostage-taking, was so brutal that “no person of conscience can understand the desire to eliminate Hamas as a threat to the people of Israel.”

An estimated 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups. About half of the dead were women and children. The International Court of Justice is reviewing a case in which Israel is accused of genocide. Pro-Palestinian protesters in the United States and other countries have called for a ceasefire.

In an interview, Moran said that “every effort must be made to protect innocent lives” as Israel fights to eradicate terrorists in Gaza.

The senator said Yemeni Houthis’ interference with commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea necessitated U.S. Navy intervention. The exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah threatened to widen the war, Moran said, and Hezbollah’s military capabilities should be downgraded.

“Israel’s existence is non-negotiable and our common adversaries must not doubt the American support solution,” Moran said.

US Congressman Jake LaTurner, the Republican for the 2nd District in Kansas who is not running for re-election in November, said Iran is funding and promoting anti-Israel protests in the United States.

“Anti-Semitism has increased in the United States since October 7. That is the goal of Iran and Hamas,” LaTurner said. “Anti-Semitism has no place in the world and Hamas sympathizers have no place in America.“

Vice President Kamala Harris, who emerged as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said she supported Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, including the activities of Iranian-backed militias such as Hezbollah and Hamas. She met with Netanyahu in Washington, DC, and expressed concern about the scale of suffering among innocent civilians in Gaza.

Harris said Americans should not be insensitive to the suffering of Palestinians and the “images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, also a Republican from Kansas, said Hamas would not have attacked Israel in October if Trump had not lost the 2020 campaign to President Joe Biden. Marshall claimed that Trump would have deterred Hamas with “peace through strength.”

Marshall also said Harris should have been present in person for Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.

“Her absence, and the absence of other Democrats, speaks volumes that their party is not pro-Israel, but pro-Hamas terrorist sympathizers,” Marshall said.