Brian Mast

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I thank both the chairs and the ranking members for their work on this piece of legislation and, specifically, helping to combat some injustices. Injustice number one is this bill works to prohibit once and for all, finally getting rid of all the toxic discharges out of Lake Okeechobee into what we call our northern estuaries in Florida. That is fixing injustice number one. Injustice number two that this bill specifically addresses is, with those toxic, poisonous waters there are Corps of Engineers personnel that are working on top of those, sometimes for 8 or 10 hours a day, for weeks or months on end. And it actually requires that a letter be put in the file of those military personnel denoting their exposure to this so if something happens to them down the road they don't have to fight like so many of our servicemembers have to fight to get the appropriate care. So I thank them for their work in helping to fix injustices in this specific piece of legislation.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, dammit, I am going to miss my friend Don Young. My other close friend, Representative Higgins and I, we sat next to him pretty much every single day for nearly the last 6 years, and I can tell everybody that for every story that you have heard about bears and bear traps and snowshoeing and dog sledding and Iditarods and eagles and hunting and everything else that you heard about him, there are a dozen stories that you have not heard but you wish you heard. They were that good. He was resilient. He was a mountain of a man, as you have heard from everybody. He was a fearless friend, and the only thing that he loved more than his country and his State of Alaska was his family and his wife, Anne, and that all encompassed just one of the most incredible men I have ever had the honor of knowing. My friend, Don Young, we are going to miss you, and may you rest in peace, my friend.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. James A. Sullivan, a veteran of World War II, a true American hero and a pillar of our North Hutchinson Island community. For nearly a century, Mr. Sullivan has committed to the betterment of his community. At the young age of seventeen, before he had even graduated from high school, he answered the call to serve his nation. In fact, he sent his sister in his place to accept his diploma and enlisted in the U.S. Navy with his parents' signature. During his time with the U.S. Navy, Mr. Sullivan rose to the rank of Third-Class Petty Officer Radioman. He was assigned to the elite contingent stationed on Merchant Marine ships that transported critical supplies to the U.S. military across the Pacific throughout World War II. This was a dangerous role: despite its name, the U.S. Navy Armed Guard had little defensive equipment and sustained one of the highest casualty rates of any military division. Following his time in the Navy, he earned a degree from Bunker Hill Community College, and felt a continued call to service. He joined the Thin Blue Line and served for nearly four decades as a police officer in Medford, Massachusetts. Along with his beloved wife, Theresa, he is the cornerstone of a loving family who is continually inspired by his example of service, patriotism and love. To quantify Mr. Sullivan's impact is nearly impossible. His determination and dedication are inspiring to all those he meets. I can say, without a doubt, that our Nation is a better place because of his leadership. Our Nation has a proud history of military service, and the many men and women who have worn the uniform deserve to be held in the highest regard. All Americans owe a great debt of gratitude to their fellow citizens, like Mr. James A. Sullivan, who have valiantly served, and particularly as we recognize Veterans Day, I would like to convey my sincerest appreciation to him.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I was asked by somebody about this piece of legislation, the Congressional Gold Medal for the 13 killed on August 26, and why not a gold medal for the thousands that have been killed in the war on terror, the ones that I wear on my wrist and the ones with names on the wall in the Rayburn Office Building and those that we see the markers for in Arlington National Cemetery. The fact is, we could give every one of them a thousand gold medals and it wouldn't represent a thousandth of what we owe those who have given their lives in defense of this country. This gold medal isn't about that. It is about what we owe to the living. This gold medal is a result of America's leaders being weak. That is why we are awarding this gold medal. We owe our fighters strength. We owe them that we never be intimidated, that we never back up, that we never retreat, that we never surrender. And as leaders, if we can't promise that to our fighters, then we owe it to them to never ask to lead.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, let's be bipartisanly honest here for a moment. We just walked out of probably the most bipartisan moment in the last couple of years, a classified briefing with the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary, the Secretary of State, and others. There are things that, real-world, need to be done where Americans are at risk. They are cut off, and they are stranded. They are now in the situation where they are the hostages of Afghanistan because of everything that has been allowed to transpire under President Biden. And in this body, we are going to walk out of that classified briefing concerned behind closed doors but do nothing--do absolutely nothing--on the floor of the House. I am going to say the same thing I just said a few minutes ago: What the hell are we doing? Let's say that again: There are Americans cut off who need our help, and there are Special Immigrant Visa applicants cut off who need our help right now who will be killed. We heard the descriptions of the dangers in the briefing we just got out of. Defeat the previous question and bring up the only thing that this body will do in this entire week that has anything to do with what is going on in Afghanistan. This is the only opportunity, the only thing that is going on related to Afghanistan in this body. That is unconscionable. How in the world is that the case? Every time somebody tries to do something different in here, like take the ability of States to determine their own voting rights or other things, everybody needs to say: Stop. What the hell are you doing? Get focused back on Afghanistan and saving Americans.

Mr MAST

Mr MAST. Madam Speaker, my flight into Washington, D.C. was delayed due to bad weather causing me to miss a vote on 7/19/2021. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 209.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I would just say this: Number one, I think you would do well to turn off the phone and pay attention to this Special Order while you have the honor of presiding over the floor of the House of Representatives. The words being spoken are important here. I would just share a brief anecdote with you, and it is this: I have spent many nights in combat. And like many of my friends, helmet, night-vision optics, lots of Velcro camo, backpack. I was a bomb technician, so I normally carried 30, 40 pounds of explosives. I had my side arm. I had my carbine. I had a metal detector and a number of other things. I normally had about 10 magazines across the front of my vest. And we were heavy. We were carrying a lot of weight on any given night. And every single night, both myself and my brothers in arms would decide how many more magazines we were going to put into our backpacks, into our kits, because we always felt that the dumbest reason for any of us to die would be for a lack of shooting back. And I think that is something that would, in turn, be one of the dumbest reasons for any law-abiding American to bring about their death, would be because they can't shoot back.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, war powers and AUMF, it is a distant impersonal term to talk about the work of the warfighter. And I think for people on both sides of the aisle, it is anything but impersonal. Probably all of us in here know people who have passed in our wars, roads named after them, schools named after them, VFWs, and other buildings named after them. It is not impersonal to those of us in here and to those who have been targeted by snipers, have had ordnance dropped on them, walked across fields of improvised explosive devices, were burned alive in Humvees and other pieces of equipment that they served their time in. It is not impersonal to us. We all know the stories. And I like to believe that we do take that very seriously. And there is broad-based consensus on the fact that these AUMFs need to be changed. But to do that and to have the appropriate responsibility to those who go out there and fight the wars, we have to talk to the people who go out there and command the battles, that sit in the JOC and sit in the TOC, and sit in the Pentagon. But, instead, what we did was we had professors from NYU and Harvard and Yale come in and speak to us for a few minutes about their opinions. But what I can tell you is that a battlefield looks nothing like a lecture hall or a faculty lounge. They are not the same things. And their opinions are not nearly as weighty as those of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Army or the Secretary of the Navy or the Commandant of the Marine Corps or one of our combatant commanders. If we take seriously this power that the 435 of us in this body have, not just to cast a vote, but to cast an informed vote to say that we went out there and did every bit of diligence that we could, it means speaking to those individuals, asking those questions, and then coming to the conclusions that bring us to the votes that we cast. But without that, we are acting on pure arrogance that we know better without asking any questions, that we know what to do without going out there and seeking any facts, without finding out how this will affect the defense of our homeland. And it is not what gives the honor and respect to those who go out there and defend this country. It is not what gives the honor and respect to them that they deserve.

Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his comments about us seeking advice on Authorization for Use of Military Force from academics from Harvard, Yale, and NYU. And though they may have spent time serving in defense roles, I would remind the chairman that in the hearings that these academics voiced their opinions in, they expressed numerous times that they didn't even have the access to information that we had. They said it over and over. They didn't have the answers that we might have the answers to. I would say it is incumbent upon this body to seek answers not from those who say we have more information, but to ask somebody who may potentially have more information than us so that we can make a more informed decision about policy that we are tasked with voting on that affects so many.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Why at this time should we come together bipartisanly on this vote? That is the question that I am going to attempt to answer. Members of this body are going to have the opportunity as we move forward here to either support Hamas or to not, to fight against them. The choice will be made. People will decide which direction they want to go. My bill, H.R. 261, the Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act of 2021, would make clear that the United States stands with Israel and would sanction those who provide financial support to Hamas. It is that simple. Now, why do we need to do that? Why is it important to come together on this? To put a fine point on it, this is not one pissed-off Palestinian that picked up a shoulder-fired RPG, put it on their shoulder, and fired it 100 yards over at Israel. That is not what we are talking about here. Hamas is sophisticated. They are well organized, and there is a complex infrastructure involved in getting them their weapons. They don't just go down to the Gaza Strip rocket depot in order to pick up these things. They are smuggled across Iraq, Syria, Jordan, into one of the most densely populated areas of the world without anybody noticing or saying anything. That is why we need these sanctions. Why should we come together bipartisanly on this to support our friend and ally Israel to stand against Hamas? Because the rockets that Hamas smuggles and fires at Israel are not science-fair bottle rockets. Many of them are Fajr-5 missiles, 21-plus feet long. That is longer than a Chevy Suburban. There are hundreds of pounds of explosives on the end of that. The explosives that detonated underneath my legs were about 5 pounds to 10 pounds of explosives, to put that into perspective. Why come together bipartisanly to support this? Because Hamas is not firing these rockets in order to make a pretty fireworks show. They use these missiles specifically to target large towns and cities with the express hope of killing Israeli civilians, like so many that we have heard about. Ido Avigal was a 5-year-old boy who was murdered when shrapnel from a rocket ripped through his window in a fortified room that he was hiding in with his mother. Daniel Tragerman was a 4-year-old Israeli boy who was killed by a mortar shell fired by Hamas in 2014. Soumya Santosh was killed when a rocket fired on Israel by Hamas on May 11th detonated close to her. She worked as a caretaker to an elderly woman who had been living in Israel for the last 7 years. These individuals and so many others are not just collateral damage. They and millions of other Israeli civilians are targeted. They are targets of Hamas. After I was blown up in Afghanistan, I volunteered to serve alongside Israel Defense Forces. There, I served alongside soldiers that were driven by their love for their fellow man, rather than by hatred for their enemies. I had the honor of getting to know some of the most creative and caring people I have ever met, who adapted to some of the worst situations that anybody could be placed into. Every family that I encountered during my time in Israel shared a desire for their children to grow, like we do, and to be educated safely without the looming threat of war. I learned at the Shabbat tables of my hosts there just how much each family truly desires peace between every neighbor of Israel, regardless of religion, regardless of history. They don't want to be attacked. They want to live in peace. They want to see their children grow. So why support bipartisanly this legislation? Because Hamas, on the other hand, uses their own people as shields and cannon fodder. They don't stand for their people. They don't defend their people. They stand behind their people. They build their command and control infrastructure inside hospitals and schools. They launch their missiles from heavily populated areas. And this recent round of fighting between Hamas and Israel is exactly that, a round in an ongoing conflict that goes back decades. Hamas has consistently launched thousands and thousands of rockets into Israel, killing and maiming hundreds of civilians. Why come together bipartisanly? Because in the last week alone, they have fired more than 3,000 rockets into Israel. This didn't make the news, but in April, over 44 rockets fired into Israel. In January, three rockets fired into Israel. That is just this year. Why come together bipartisanly? In 2020, more than 130 rocket attacks. In 2019, 650 rocket attacks. In 2018, 350 rocket attacks. That is more than one a day. Imagine if that was going on here in the United States. Why come together bipartisanly? To make sure that we sanction the enablers of Hamas. In 2016, Hamas bombed a bus in Jerusalem, killing 2 and wounding 21. At another time, a Hamas suicide bomber killed one and injured nine. Another bombing, Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in a neighborhood bakery. Another bombing in a shawarma restaurant in Tel Aviv killed 11 and wounded 70. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, one of the listed sanctioned groups in this bill. In another bombing, at a vegetable market, seven people killed. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. In another bombing, two commuter buses in Beersheba, 16 people killed and over 100 wounded. Hamas claimed responsibility. Why is this bill needed? Why do we need to come together? Because Hamas does not finance terrorism with bake sales. They receive significant support from individual groups and foreign governments, like Iran. The U.S. Government has estimated that Iran, by itself, has provided as much as $100 million annually to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist organizations. These foreign sponsors seek to bring death to the Jewish state. It is that simple. Under my bill, the United States will sanction these groups that are supporting terrorism. If we do not pass this bill, we will not stand together to sanction these groups that are enabling this terrorism. This is common sense, which is why it passed the House of Representatives without any opposition last Congress. The bill even includes humanitarian exemptions that Democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee wrote last Congress, before all voting in favor of this piece of legislation. Given the ongoing attacks on Israel, and the bipartisan support for this bill last Congress, I have asked that this bill be expedited for consideration again. Unfortunately, some of our colleagues are now pushing the opposite direction for the United States to withhold American weapons shipments to Israel, but they will not support steps to cut off the flow of weapons and funding from Iran to Hamas that is killing our Israeli friends. There is a false equivalency that is going on, and there is a rooting for a terrorist organization that is happening as well. So, Madam Speaker, this is my request. Many of you supported this bill 2 years ago. Support it again now. Stand with our ally, Israel. Stand against Hamas. Stand against their enablers. Pass this bill unanimously.

Mr. MAST

Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, by my calculation, we should have about 2 minutes remaining. So I will try to give the gentleman the last word in just a moment. Mr. Speaker, I would just bring us back to what I opened up with for myself here. And that was the tweet, the statement that was put out in a number of places by our colleague, who I am absolutely astounded sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs with me, Representative Omar. That Palestinians deserve protection and that Israel is somehow the aggressor committing an act of terrorism. And ask that the American people go out there, do your own research, look up what the history is, look at the attacks, see what's going on, and judge that for yourself in the most honest way that you can.

Mr. MAST. I thank the gentleman for his question. I could continue on through this list and read year after year, nine killed, nine killed, six killed, 14 killed, 11 killed. I read Hamas, Palestinian Islamic jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and Hezbollah in that list, as well, and the list goes on year after year after year. As you look at those threats and those calls to violence, it begs the question--I can't take credit for this quote. I forget who exactly said it first. But they said you don't sell a gun to somebody that wants to shoot you. This was the failed policy that President Trump worked to correct, in reversing from that relationship with Iran and strengthening that relationship with Israel. Would the gentleman agree?

Mr. MAST. I am joined by my colleague here, Mr. Roy. There will be some colloquy going between us as we each feel the need to discuss what is going on in Israel right now, the response by the world, the response by the United States of America. Mr. Roy, I don't know if you have any opening comments that you would like to begin with, but we can certainly start with that.

Mr. MAST. Let's start with what my friend just said, our friends under attack. That first word, ``under attack'' is the most important part to realize here. I want to quote one of our other colleagues in a statement, Ms. Omar, in one of her statements about these very events. She said, ``Israel airstrikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism. Palestinians deserve protection. Unlike Israel, missile defense programs such as Iron Dome don't exist to protect Palestinian civilians. It is unconscionable to not condemn these attacks.'' That is absolutely right. Palestinians don't receive support like Iron Dome. That would be akin to giving al-Qaida or ISIS or the Taliban U.S. bomb technicians and military personnel to help them out. That would be the apples-to-apples comparison of giving the attackers, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic jihad, others, that would be the equivalent of giving them those kind of assets. Hamas purposefully makes their civilians the shields to their offensive points. That is not hyperbole. Think about that, what they do to their population. I don't want to just speak about this in platitudes. If the gentleman has anything to add, by all means, I will just yield to him as that time arises. I want to speak about these by specific incident to say exactly how much Israel is being attacked and let the American people judge who is the aggressor here. We will go over both rocket attacks, which are acts of terrorism, and suicide bombings. You might think I am reading every one of them in history, but I am not. They are all serious, but I am reading what largely became the most serious of them. We will start just now with the rocket attacks. I am not going to read for today because the totals aren't in, but as of yesterday, over 600 rockets were launched into Israel. When I say 600 rockets, I don't want people to think they are small, the size of this table or my cane. We are talking about Fajr-5 rockets. They are made by Iran. They are 21 feet long. That is basically a little bit longer than a Chevy Suburban. The warheads on these rockets are about 90 kilograms, or 200 pounds of explosives. To put that into perspective, what detonated underneath my feet when I lost my legs was probably somewhere around 5 to 10 pounds. So each of these warheads being fired in, somewhere around 200 pounds of explosives. So just yesterday, 600 rockets; May 9, six rockets; April 25, five rockets; April 24, two rockets; April 23, 36 rockets; April 15, one rocket; January 20, one rocket; January 18, two rockets. Going back into 2020, December 26, two rockets; November 21, one rocket; November 14, two rockets; October 22, two rockets; October 16, one rocket; September 15, 13 rockets; August 21, 12 rockets; August 16, two rockets; August 2, one rocket; July 5, three rockets; June 26, two rockets; June 15, one rocket; February 23 and 24, 90 rockets over the course of that Sunday and Monday. Moving into 2019, November 12, 190 rockets launched by Palestinian Islamic jihad; May 5, 200 rockets; May 4, 250 rockets; March 25, one rocket; March 14, two rockets. Going back into 2018, November 12, one mortar; November 11, 17 rockets; August 8, eight rockets; July 26, 11 rockets; July 14, 174 rockets, barrage, Israel. And we are talking about--let's put into this perspective as well--a country roughly the size of the State of New Jersey, not the breadth of the United States of America.

Mr. MAST. Many times.

Mr. MAST. You are exactly right. We have both had the honor of spending time there. I have had the honor in my life of wearing two military uniforms, for a dozen years in the U.S. Army and also for a period wearing the uniform of the Israel Defense Forces. One of the things that I learned so well in my time spent serving there was what I feel the same way about as a father of four. When you go over there and you get to the weekend and the time for Shabbat dinner, each family over there, because everybody serves, as they get their family together for that Shabbat meal, every family is waiting for a son, a daughter, a grandson, a granddaughter to come home from that weekend from that service that everybody is mandated to perform and that in all likelihood, sometime during their service, they will probably have to wield their weapon in defense of Israel, given the percentages of the times that they find themselves under attack.

Mr. MAST. I could not agree more, and to put into perspective why, a great American word, Alamo. Israel is really, it is an Alamo in the Middle East, of freedom, democracy, human rights for all people. That is what they are in that region, and if we don't stand for them, for that friend, that great ally in this region, who do we stand for?

Mr. MAST. I totally agree. Let's make a perspective on that as well.

Mr. MAST. I just went over a tremendous list of years of rocket attacks. Now, when Israel goes and flies over the Gaza Strip and puts a piece of ordnance on a target, it is because that location is where they were firing rockets from. They are defending themselves. That is very specific. It is the definition of defense. All of those rockets and mortars being lobbed into Israel, those are fired entirely indiscriminately beyond, say, they are trying to send them in an area. They are not trying to send those rockets in to land and take down a date tree or some other kind of farm field or something like that. Their specific intent is to indiscriminately hit the largest centers of population and anybody or any piece of infrastructure, whether it is related to military, civilians, restaurants, you name it, they don't care. It is the definition of indiscriminate killing.

Mr. MAST. I would respond to the gentleman by saying what greater calling for any government, what greater responsibility for any government, than to protect its people. You speak at length about the protection that the United States of America owes to its people on the southern border. It is one of the things that you address so regularly. That carries over to what we are speaking about right here. I would add on this point simply to that: When I go back in time and say what brought about me going over to put on the uniform of the IDF, I was a student in Boston. At that time, a recent Gaza war was going on, back in 2014. What I witnessed there, aside from people who were protesting Israel--again, for going out there and defending herself-- were people also seeing U.S. servicemembers like myself. They were out there to protest Israel, but they started harassing people like me and my family because they could see I was a U.S. servicemember. So, that goes to the jump that they make when they layer the United States and Israel next to one another. But what I said to myself after those experiences was this makes absolutely no sense. This is total hypocrisy. If any one of our neighbors--Mexico, some Caribbean country, Canada--started lobbing rockets or lobbing mortars into the United States of America, my friends in the service would go and eliminate those enemies. Everybody in the United States of America would be grateful to them for doing so. How we do not afford that same right to Israel--or some of our colleagues do not--is absolutely beyond me.

Mr. MAST. Not surprised in the slightest. We have seen this not just go on for those who were wounded in Syria and other places. We can see it right here in our own area of the world, where Israel responded to the earthquake in Haiti and other natural disasters around the globe. They are often among the first on the ground to go out there and respond. The gentleman has spoken about his time in Israel, and we have spoken about some of these rocket attacks. Again, I don't want to live in the ambiguous here. I want to speak to exactly what has gone on in history. I am now going to move at this point to some of the suicide bombings that have taken place in the State of Israel and go through some of those. In 2016, a bus bombing, 20 injured; Hamas takes credit. Now, before I continue with just saying ``Hamas takes credit'' or ``Palestinian Islamic jihad,'' it is important to have perspective on that, as well. In 2006, Hamas is not just a terrorist organization. In 2006, they became the majority-elected government for the Palestinian Authority. So, when people talk about a two-state solution, you are talking about Hamas, which I am going to speak about in length here being the government entity that would be that second state. Let's continue on. We will go to 2006 here. Rosh Ha'ir Restaurant bombing, 11 killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad. HaSharon Mall, December 2005, five killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad. Market bombing, October 26, seven killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad. Mall bombing, July 12, 2005, five killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad. Club bombing, February 25 in Tel Aviv, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hezbollah involvement. Bus bombing, January 29, 2004, Jerusalem, 11 killed, Hamas. Liberty Bell Park bus bombing, February 22, eight killed, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Ashdod Port massacre, March 14, 2004, 10 killed in a double suicide bombing carried out by, again, Hamas. Beersheba bus bombing, August 31, 2004, 16 killed, Hamas claims responsibility. Again, I am reading to you just a small portion of all the attacks that I could read to you. Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing, March 5, 2003, 17 killed. Bus station massacre, January 5, 2003, in Tel Aviv, 23 killed, Palestinian Islamic jihad and Hamas. Mike's Place suicide bombing, a pub, April 30, 2003, three killed, Hamas. Gross Square attack, May 17, 2003, two killed, Hamas. Jerusalem, bus number six bombing, seven killed, Hamas claims responsibility. Davidka Square bus bombing, June 1, 2003, 17 killed, Hamas claims responsibility. The list could go on. I don't know if you would care to comment on any of this as I could continue year after year with these suicide attacks, the stabbings, the bombings, the vehicular manslaughter, the rocket attacks. It goes on and on.

Mr. MAST. I could not agree more with the gentleman. It is important that we acknowledge the truth. Who are our friends, who are our enemies, who those are that are posing a threat, what are the threats that they are posing, we make that known. That has an effect on the saber-rattling, and we should take the saber-rattling that is going on, whether it is in Iran or whether it is in a Palestinian-controlled territory or Syria or anywhere else, we need to take that seriously. To your point about that pride that you saw and that friendship between the U.S. and Israel, on a separate experience, again, in Israel, I believe this was in 2017 for myself, I am with my wife. We are down on the Sea of Galilee with other Members of Congress, literally inside of a restaurant filled simply with patrons of that area. The patrons in that restaurant stood up and to us, who were Members of Congress, the United States House of Representatives, bipartisan, they sang ``God Bless America.'' I would challenge anybody that we could find many places across the globe where we would find a group of restaurant patrons who would stand and sing twice, in my experience, ``God bless America.''

Mr. MAST. I totally agree. But it didn't stop with moving the Embassy to Jerusalem. It had to do with acknowledging if Iran is a friend or an enemy and reversing what had gone on with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, moving away from Iran, moving back toward our consistent friend and ally, Israel. It had more to do with going out there and recognizing the relationships that we have through our cross-military training exercises that we do, sharing of military technologies, and so on and so on. It didn't just end with acknowledging something that everybody knew for decades since the beginning of Israel, where the capital is. That was an important piece of it for the President to make that acknowledgment. But it went so far beyond. Would the gentleman agree?

Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his question. Not only do I agree with that, but I think one of the most important points that we make on that is that it was without concession. We didn't have to negotiate. The President did not negotiate or barter a deal that said, Listen, you need to go out there and submit to another authority that is bombing you, sending mortars, sending rockets, kidnapping people from your territory. You don't have to submit to some other authority in order to have this peace. It was a negotiated peace based upon a truth and, I believe, an acknowledgment by those other nations of exactly what has been read off here today. The historical documentation of rocket attacks, mortar attacks, suicide bombings that point to the fact that Israel is not the aggressor. They show a tremendous amount of restraint year after year after year. The fact that their enemies that attack them are not simply a smoldering pile of ashes at this point is demonstration of the restraint. I don't know that if we had that kind of history, we would--that our enemy would not be a smoldering pile of ashes.

Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.