House Chamber, Washington, D.C.

March 17, 2010

M. Speaker:

I rise to express my great concern over recent statements by Administration officials regarding Israeli housing construction in that nation’s capital city.

 History warns us that appeasement of mutual enemies is the surest possible way to destroy alliances and to invite aggression, and yet the rhetoric of this administration is taking us down this very dangerous road.

 Israel has every right to allow construction its capital city and throughout the West Bank -- over which it exercises rightful sovereignty. 

The administration seems to have forgotten that Jordan attacked Israel in 1967 – not the other way around – and the result was the Israeli acquisition of this land.  

The Israelis haven’t forgotten that – nor have they forgotten the folly of unilaterally giving up the Gaza Strip, from which rockets are now routinely launched against Israeli civilians. 
Imagine the danger to Israel’s capital by repeating that mistake in East Jerusalem.
 
Appeasement all but guarantees the escalation of conflict.