WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks at AIPAC’s annual policy conference:

“Good morning. Our thoughts are with the people of Belgium today, following explosions at its main international airport and a subway station in the heart of the city of Brussels. And although the full toll is still preliminary and the cause of the blasts still not clear, dozens have been killed and authorities predict that this number will rise.

“This comes on the heels of the government’s arrest of the world’s most wanted man, and if this is an echo of the November 13 Paris attacks it is another reminder that the United States must stand by its friends and allies whether in the Middle East or Europe or elsewhere. We are certainly going to be closely watching as this situation develops.

“Thank you to Howard Kohr and AIPAC’s leaders and members, especially the New Jersey delegation which I understand is 1,400 strong this year. To my good friend Lonny Kaplan and all of you – from every state – welcome to Washington. I know it has been a long convention and you have listened to many speeches. But not many as inspiring as the remarks we just heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

“I especially remember Prime Minister Netanyahu famously capturing the essence of the Netanyahu defense doctrine when he said: ‘If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.’ Keep that quote in mind as you go to the offices of your Senators and Congressmen where the real work begins in strengthening U.S.-Israel relations and protecting Israel and the Israeli people for generations to come.

“You leave this convention hall today armed with many ideas from many speakers and from the Prime Minister about what the future holds for a region that is the tinderbox of the world. For both the United States and Israel, getting it wrong is not an option. Getting it right means recognizing the real threats Israel faces from its neighbors and from an increasingly emboldened Iran. It means redoubling our efforts to keep Israel secure, safe, and powerful in the face of those threats.

“We see the headlines every day. In them, we can see the balance of power in the region shifting, and we realize the daunting task ahead. Last week, Syrian Kurds declared a Federal Region, stopping short of independence but clearly signaling the beginning of decentralization in Syria.

“We saw the ravages of a car bomb in Ankara that killed at least 35 – carried out by a terrorist splinter group of the PKK known as the Kurdish Freedom Falcons. We’ve seen the rise of one terrorist group after another – across North Africa, Libya, all the way to Afghanistan and Pakistan – claiming loyalty to the Islamic State and further destabilizing the region. Every day we see more images of the largest mass migration to Europe since World War II. A child washing-up on a beach in the Mediterranean, and millions more women and children fleeing the violence and living in refugee camps trying to find a place to call home.

“Clearly, the region is in turmoil, the balance of power rapidly shifting; the integrity of national borders in question. ISIS is increasing influence from the Maghreb to the Hindu Kush; and Iran, enriched and emboldened, in my view, with the implementation of the JCPOA – is test launching missiles that could reach Israel and Israel’s security is at stake.

“We see headlines that Iran has launched and test-fired two ballistic missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv – some of them marked “Israel must be wiped out.”

“Some of us saw it coming. Everyone in this room could see it coming. But we signed the JCPOA, and Iran is already testing the agreement, testing our resolve, and quite literally testing long range ballistic missiles.

“At the end of the day, even proponents of the agreement have to acknowledge that the JCPOA provides Iran with a $100 billion windfall of new capital to increase its conventional forces, fortify its proxies, further destabilize the region, and find a back-door method of accelerating the timeframe for which it could breakout and build a nuclear weapon.

“Let me say as emphatically as I can, we will never let that happen! Never! Not ever will we allow Iran to threaten Israel or the region with a nuclear weapon! I will continue to stand with you against any nation, any power, any potential threat to Israel’s right to exist. No matter what it takes, no matter what political powers I have to take-on, even if they are in my own Party.

“As far as I’m concerned, as far as all of us are concerned, there will never, never be daylight between the United States and Israel. Period.

“The strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship is clear in our commitment to negotiate a new, enhanced 10 year, $3.1 billion defense-aid package for Israel and it is my hope, and the hope of many in Congress, that we will fully fund all three U.S.-Israel cooperative missile defense programs in the FY 2017 budget, and a separate request for Iron Dome.

“America and Israel’s security is our fundamental goal and the robust defense of the Israeli people is our mission. In a chaotic region in chaotic times, they are a reflection of our democracy and our values.

“While too many other nations offer little in the way of progress, Israeli democracy has always offered educational opportunity, economic stability, social justice, and the hope of modernity in the face of those who would turn back the clock to another century. Israel represents the promise of progress amidst the ravages of despair, fear, human suffering, and the displacement of millions that are altering the map of the Middle East and changing the demographics of the region.

“And sometimes when I look at the vitriol stemming from certain quarters within our own politics here in the United States, I am reminded why being pro-Israel has always meant following our better angels, angels of religious tolerance and the rule of law, of welcoming rather than refusing refugees, of embracing differences and diversity, and of solving problems with entrepreneurial innovation and advancement rather than blaming “the other” across the border or on the other side of the world.

“The fact is, in the Middle East, we stand at the confluence of order and chaos, civility and barbarism of a region flirting with a kind of nihilism that is threatening to leave a generation with no hope for the future, a generation of young men and young women seemingly determined to have no future, willing to strap a bomb to their bodies in the name of Allah.

“We cannot tolerate, as civilized nations, nihilists using children as a weapon and a flawed interpretation of the Koran as a shield. And we cannot allow the mullahs in Iran, who threaten Israel with the pursuit of their nuclear ambition, to ignite an arms race in the Middle East that will only make the situation worse. What we cannot do is let down, let up, or give-in to the forces aligned against Israel.

“Let’s talk about the JCPOA, and what we can do to close the space that may allow Iran a way to pursue its regional adventurism. The JCPOA, in my view, did not go far enough. It provided too much to Iran and too little to enhance Israel’s security – and the security of the United States.

“When I cast my vote in the Senate against the agreement, I said then that the agreement abandons our long-held policy of preventing nuclear proliferation that it embarked, not on preventing nuclear proliferation, but on managing or containing it. I said that the JCPOA did not require Iran to dismantle its illicit nuclear infrastructure. It was not “roll-back-for-roll-back” as we had hoped. Instead, we’re rolling-back sanctions and Iran is only limiting its capability, but not dismantling it and continuing its adventurism.

“What did we get from the deal? Ultimately, we got an alarm bell should Iran decide to violate their commitments, and a system for inspections to verify their compliance through the IAEA which, we learn from a Government Accounting Office report issued at my request along with Senator Kirk, that the IAEA has its own challenges and limitations. We learned that it will require $10 million a year for 15 years, above and beyond its present budget, to monitor, verify, and meet the requirements of the JCPOA. That the IAEA is short of human capital and equipment necessary to do the job and that its attention will be lost on other proliferation challenges.

“The fact is, the IAEA is not an intelligence agency and is not schooled in tradecraft or in detecting clandestine or undeclared activities. What does it say that we are putting our national security interests in the hands of a multilateral organization that, at best, will be struggling to meet its requirements?

“We are only a short time into this process, and already I know that we need new legislation to fill the space around the JCPOA that has not been addressed. Look at the facts: Implementation of the agreement was in January, just 3 months ago, and Iran’s breakout time for nuclear capability is now 12 months. Since implementation, Iran has accessed billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

“We’ve seen three ballistic missile tests: One in October, one in November, and one in March, and one launched not far from U.S. Naval vessels. We’ve seen American sailors humiliated and detained at gunpoint. We’ve seen 4 innocent American hostages traded for the freedom of 21 Iranian criminals, the release of 7 terrorists, and clemency for 14 more.

“We’ve seen $1.7 billion in American taxpayer money go to the government of Iran for defense contractor services, plus interest, paid but not performed in 1979 and so quickly paid that no victim of terrorism who has a judgement could attach the money. And yet Iran continues to support a Houthi insurgency that toppled the legitimate government of Yemen. It supports Shia militias in Iraq that virtually control the democratically elected Iraqi government, threatening to return Iraq to civil war or worse.

“It supports Assad in Syria and continues to send millions of dollars and sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas, threatening Israel’s security. It continues human rights violations and sustains an aging clergy that is losing touch with the hopes and dreams of young Iranians and moderates, an out-of-touch clergy that dominates the power structures and the security apparatus that restrict civil liberties, and promotes its hegemonic regional destabilization.

“It has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, biological weapons, and continues to develop cyber-war capabilities. Iran continues its development of space-launch vehicles that can lead to longer-range missile capability.

“It has cooperated with North Korea on the transfer of ballistic missile technology, And, despite Iran’s blatant adventurism, our only response has been to impose some limited sanctions on individuals, not as robust as the sanctions I had proposed, when Iran began testing intercontinental ballistic missile, which is in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“Clearly, Iran will never change. The devil you see now is the devil you’ve always known. There has been no change, not in my experience, and, I expect, not in my lifetime.

“For all of these reasons I am introducing legislation that fills that empty space left by the JCPOA that lets Iran continue its hegemonic behavior and leaves it unencumbered, emboldened, and enriched. When you go to the Hill tell them you want a bill that will go a long way to preventing Iran from continuing to build up its conventional forces, fund its terrorist-proxies, and make it more difficult for Iran to find new and clever ways to cheat on the agreement it signed and find its way to a nuclear weapon.

“Elliot Abrams once said: ‘In Arab capitals, the failure of the United States to stop Iran’s nuclear program is understood as American weakness in the struggle for dominance in the Middle East.’ Well, together we can exhibit strength, not weakness, resolve, not equivocation, and most importantly, unlike some Presidential candidates, I do not believe the U.S. can be neutral if Israel is to survive.

“Let’s be clear, the JCPOA, in my view, has freed Iran to test the limits of the Administration’s blind commitment to legacy. But, my friends, legacy is not a policy; and hope is not a national security strategy, and there’s too much at stake to confuse the two. We need to send a clear message to Arab capitals that, at the end of the day, we will protect Israel, and stop Iran from threatening its neighbors.

“We will focus on non-military methods to target Iranian support for terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We will limit the authority of any President to lift sanctions on Iranian financial institutions that have been designated as supporting terrorism. We will set clear terms for when, how, and if sanctions are lifted. We will require the President to certify to Congress that any financial institution designated for sanctions has met certain criteria before we remove those sanctions.

“The only thing we’ve done to date is impose some sanctions against 11 entities that act as front companies for Iran’s ballistic missile procurement network. Wouldn’t it make more sense to sanction the banks that help finance the ballistic missile program rather than play whack-a-mole with 11 front men?

“We will provide leverage to seek necessary changes in the conduct of the Iranian regime and hold Iran accountable for meeting its international obligations, including the terms of the JCPOA. We will improve the deplorable human rights situation in Iran and double-down on our reassurances to Israel and American allies in the region of our full commitment to regional security.

“The fact is, there’s much we can do to ensure a bright future undimmed by a nuclear cloud. We must authorize the Iran Sanctions Act that I authored so that, as flawed as the JCPOA was, the Iranians will know of the consequences of any breach and we will deal with missile proliferation, terrorism, and regional destabilization that are just as dangerous and just as threatening to American security and to Israel. I urge you to go to the House and Senate offices and urge them to support such legislation.

“We hope and pray for peace, but we must always have Israel’s back, and having Israel’s back means fighting back against efforts by any nation or any anti-Semitic terrorist group, any haters or holocaust deniers who try to delegitimize Israel.

“As I’ve said here many times and on many occasions, and will say again today, the Holocaust was the most sinister possible reminder that the Jewish people in exile lived in constant jeopardy. But while the Shoah is central to Israel's identity, it was never the reason behind its founding, and it is not the main justification for Israel’s existence today.

“The true justification is written in thousands of years of undeniable history that lead to an undeniable conclusion: the re-establishment of the State of Israel in modern times is the result of a political reality that has grown from strong, deep roots going back to the time of Abraham and Sarah. There can be no denying the history or the courage of the Jewish people and I know there can be no denying the Jewish people their legitimate right to live in peace and security, on a homeland to which they have had a connection for thousands of years.

“That is why you are here in Washington. It is why, so long as I have a voice and a vote, I will not yield to those who wish to break my resolve on stopping Iran’s illicit nuclear program and on preserving the unshakeable bond between Israel and the United States.

“Passover begins on Friday, April 22nd. It celebrates freedom, liberation, and is kept in remembrance of God passing over the houses of the Israelites, freeing them from bondage. It is a commemoration of deliverance from oppression, deliverance from the threat of evil. As we approach the Easter holiday in the Christian faith and the Jewish holiday of Passover, let us be united against anyone who would threaten us, anyone who would jeopardize our children’s future and what we over the centuries have built as a civilization.

“Let us remember Exodus 23: ‘Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice.’ As we celebrate two important holidays of our faiths we pray that in this festive season we have the courage to stand up even when there is pressure to stand down.

“In closing, I am reminded of two stories that I hope my colleagues in Congress will take to heart. One is the reprehensible plea Adolf Eichmann made to spare his life. In a letter to the then President of Israel Yitzhak Ben-Zvi he wrote, ‘There is a need to draw a line between the leaders responsible and the people like me, forced to serve as mere instruments in the hands of the leaders.’ We can never allow ourselves to be instruments of anything or anyone other than our own conscience.

“Rather, we should be like U.S. Master Sergeant, Roddie Edmonds who, with his Nazi captor pointing a pistol at him and demanding to know which of his fellow prisoners of war in Ziegenhain Stallag were Jewish, ordered more than a thousand of his fellow prisoners to stand in front of their barracks. And then Sergeant Edmonds said: ‘We are all Jews here.’ That act of defiance in January of 1945 spared the lives of as many as 200 Jews in his command.

“And so I say today, in these times: We are all Jews. Shalom.”

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