As we know, there is nothing sacred to terrorists. In this week’s Action Update, we’ll discuss the impact and ripple effects of this unholy approach to the world and what we are doing about it.
Terrorists Threaten Israeli Rescue Teams
United Hatzalah is one of the world’s premier mass casualty rescue services. And, as we noted last week, Israel sent rescue and medical teams to Turkey in the wake of the earthquake in the region that has
claimed over 30,000 lives.
Now, the United Hatzalah rescue team is pulling out of Turkey because of a "concrete and immediate" threat on their lives by terrorists. The IDF mission in Turkey is moving from largely search and rescue to an exclusive focus on medical aid.
United Hatzalah search and rescue personnel are all volunteers. They left their jobs and families behind to help the innocent victims of the earthquake. But this doesn’t matter to the terrorists. Their goal is to kill and maim, and they’ll do so by any means necessary and whenever an opportunity presents itself.
United Hatzalah isn’t the only group suspending operations. Military and civilian rescue personnel from Germany and Austria have done so as well due to the security situation in the area in which they are operating. Turkish President Erdogan’s corruption and decision to allow his country to become a haven for certain terrorist groups (including Hamas) has not just harmed western democracies, it is now having a direct and horrific impact on his own people.
Terrorists Attack Israeli Civilians
On Friday, a Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into a group of civilians in Jerusalem. Two children and a twenty-year-old man were killed, and five other innocent people were wounded. The terrorist was shot dead by an Israeli police officer. This latest incident comes on the heels of two shooting attacks in Israel’s capital city, where seven people were killed and several more wounded.
On Saturday evening, Palestinian terrorists fired rockets from Gaza into Israel. No casualties were reported. Israel responded by attacking a Hamas rocket facility. According to the IDF, Israel struck "an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization."
It is believed that the destruction of that facility will moderately impact Hamas’s ability to launch rocket attacks, but the terrorist group has rockets and missiles, as well as the facilities to produce more, in numerous locations throughout the Gaza Strip.
Terrorists Aided by Congress’s "Hamas Caucus"
According to the Israeli security agency, 2022 was among the deadliest years in the Jewish state for terror attacks since the second intifada that took
place two decades ago. And as the above news indicates, 2023 is not shaping up to be much better. Israel, therefore, must have the means to defend herself.
As we saw in early 2022, there are those who so detest the Jewish state that they sought to stop the resupply of Israel’s Iron Dome system – a purely defensive item whose sole impact is to protect innocent lives.
One of the central elements of longstanding American support for Israel are Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) that lay out the American plans for ensuring the Jewish state has the means to defend itself from terror. The last MOU was signed in 2016, took effect in 2018, and will
expire in 2028. It was also codified into law by Congress.
These MOUs are complicated documents that involve looking ahead to Israel’s defensive needs and America’s ability to support our closest ally in the world against our shared enemies. The MOU also examines what the U.S. needs to keep our country safe. For example, because of the U.S.-Israel defense relationship, the two countries are working hand-in-hand to develop technology aimed at thwarting the threat of hypersonic missiles – be they from Iran, China or North Korea.
Given the complexity of the issues involved, discussions about a new MOU will begin to take place very soon.
Unfortunately, it is believed the same group of fringe elected officials who sought to block the aforementioned Iron Dome resupply will try to throw a wrench in the works of the next MOU. And that’s where we come in.
It is our job to counter those who would undermine the U.S.-Israel relationship and work to deny both countries the best possible defense against our shared enemies. In the coming months and until the new MOU is signed, we at the Action Fund will be pounding the pavement in Washington to ensure elected officials from both sides of the aisle and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue do not allow American foreign policy to be held hostage by the radical fringe known in the pro-Israel community as the "Hamas Caucus."
Sincerely,
