Video of Congressman Sherman in Action
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Brad Sherman on Wednesday joined Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon at a rally to show solidarity with Israel as intensified fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas entered its second week.
“The Hezbollah terrorists bankrolled by Iran have a sordid history of inciting violence against Israel,” Sherman said. “We have to hammer it home again and again that the current Israeli response is not just a response to one incident one week ago, but to continued terrorist activity against Israel by Hezbollah and Hamas and their masters in Tehran.”
The rally was held as Congress offered support for Israel's response to Hezbollah missile attacks on targets in northern Israel and the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that sparked the latest clash.
A House resolution introduced Tuesday condemns Hezbollah for “engaging in unprovoked and reprehensible armed attacks against Israel on undisputed Israeli territory.”
The measure also supports “Israel’s right to defend itself, including the right to conduct operations in Israel and in the territory of nations which pose a threat to it.”
At the rally in Washington’s Freedom Plaza, Sherman also rebutted calls for the release of women and minors held by Israel on terrorist charges. “Terrorist organizations have increasingly used minors and women to perpetrate suicide attacks,” he said.
Among many examples, Sherman said, was a woman arrested in 2001 for the bombing of a Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including seven children, and teenagers caught carrying pipe bombs and attempting suicide attacks. An Israeli prison spokeswoman, Orit Stelster, said 64 women in Israeli jails “have blood on their hands.”
