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From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                International Holocaust Remembrance Day

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, this week, we observe International 
Holocaust Remembrance Day. We honor the 6 million Jews whose lives were 
lost during the Holocaust, their families, and the scar that has left 
on the world. The term ``We will never forget'' still rings eight 
decades later.
  The end of that atrocity did not bring the end of anti-Semitism, 
unfortunately. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists brutally attacked 
Israel with the intent to wipe Israel off the map. Hamas killed 1,200 
people simply because they were Jewish.
  People marched in the streets even in sections of America and on 
university campuses, screaming ``from the river to the sea,'' meaning 
the obliteration of the Jewish people and the Jewish nation.
  A few months ago, I stood at the Nova Music Festival site, literally 
within sight of Gaza. I walked through that area with a family. I 
talked to one of the survivors who was there that day. She is still 
reliving the emotion of being there, just doing an all-night music 
festival. As the Sun came up, terrorists came in to kill as many people 
as possible at that music festival.
  In the immediate aftermath of that attack, it was clarifying for the 
United States that we needed to continue to stand with Israel. 
Terrorism is not done. Anti-Semitism has not ended in the world. We 
should continue to speak out.
  In my State of Oklahoma, it is extremely personal. We have a lot of 
Oklahomans who are very pro-Israel because they love freedom and they 
love a functioning democracy. With Israel being the only democracy in 
all of the Middle East and having a thriving economy, we have a lot of 
economic connections to Israel. We have a lot of family connections. We 
have a lot of individuals who travel to Israel for both vacation and 
for moments to be able to reflect on their own faith. It is a common 
connection.
  In fact, after October 7, my office and I were personally connected 
with trying to be able to help some families and individuals who were 
touring in Israel at that time find a way to be able to escape from the 
fighting and to be able to get out.
  This is a very, very difficult moment, and it continues to be a very 
difficult moment for the people of Israel because all they want to do 
is to be able to live in peace with the people around them.
  Within days, Israel is not just facing a war with Gaza, Hezbollah 
began to attack them from the north from Lebanon. The Houthis began to 
fire missiles at them from the south. And then within a few months, 
Iran itself began to fire missiles and rockets and one-way attack 
drones toward Israel, literally facing a war with individuals attacking 
them from the north, south, east, and west. Israel just wants to live 
in peace.
  In the middle of a war, when a group of terrorists crossed the border 
and began to slaughter Israelis, the International Criminal Court 
determined it was going to jump in and make a clear statement. Great. 
Make a clear statement about terrorism. Call out those who are 
attacking civilians and slaughtering people as they sleep on that 
morning.
  But instead, the International Criminal Court released arrest 
warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and for 
Yoav Gallant, the now former Defense Minister, for trying to defend 
their country from terrorism.
  Myself and my other colleagues remembered immediately that during the 
war in Afghanistan, this same International Criminal Court was filing 
charges against American soldiers trying to defend the United States 
while they were fighting in Afghanistan. This is the very definition of 
a rogue court.
  By the way, they are in the process of trying to be able to figure 
out how to be able to fix their image. So just within the past few 
days, the International Criminal Court has filed an arrest warrant for 
some of the Taliban leaders. Welcome to the 2000s. The International 
Criminal Court has now figured out that the Taliban are back, something 
the rest of the world has known and recognized for more than two 
decades.
  This body had the opportunity to do something pretty common sense: 
Speak out and say we are not a party to the International Criminal 
Court. The United States has never participated in that. In fact, no 
President has ever even requested--Republican or Democrat--to join that 
agreement for the International Criminal Court. No one wants to be a 
part of that in the United States. I know of no Oklahoman who would say 
we want our troops to be under the authority of an international court. 
We are not going to do that.
  Israel, by the way, has also not joined the International Criminal 
Court. They have no desire to also be under the authority of a foreign 
court. They have seen full well the U.N. anti-Semitism, and they have 
no interest to the international bodies trying to be able to tell them 
right from wrong, so they are not a party to it either. But the 
International Criminal Court has seen fit to be able to challenge and 
try to call out American soldiers and to be able to call out the 
leaders of Israel, even after they have been attacked.
  So this body in the U.S. Senate had an opportunity yesterday to be 
able to speak out on that and to actually sanction and to allow further 
sanctions of individuals from the International Criminal Court and 
entities that cooperate with them to say you cannot come after the 
United States or after our allies.
  It is a very simple, straightforward bill. It is a bill that passed 
with a very large bipartisan majority through the House of 
Representatives. In fact, it has passed twice now with a large 
bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives. But when it came 
here to the U.S. Senate, my Democratic colleagues shrugged and said no.

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  The Trump administration, I am confident, will speak out with 
sanctions against the International Criminal Court. They did during the 
first Trump Presidency. I am confident they will again. What I am not 
confident of is every future President after President Trump, if they 
will hold the same high standard to be able to protect American 
citizens, our soldiers, and to be able to stand alongside with Israel.
  I have come to this body over and over and over again, and I have 
said we should speak out in these areas. We should speak out against 
anti-Semitism. For instance, the International Holocaust Remembrance 
Alliance, that definition of what anti-Semitism is, that is a 
definition the United States was a party to more than three decades 
ago. Our State Department so recognizes what it means to be anti-
Semitic and makes it very clear on that. But this body has failed to 
actually impose that same definition of anti-Semitism in our Department 
of Justice--for instance, the FBI--or the Department of Education.
  Some may say, well, why is that even an issue? Well, ask the Jewish 
students at Columbia University, and they will tell you why that is 
important. This week, at Columbia University, masked students burst 
into a modern history of Israel class chanting anti-Semitic tropes and 
calling out to crush Zionism, in their class at Columbia University 
this week, during Holocaust Remembrance Week.
  I think having a clear definition of what anti-Semitism is and 
calling out universities that would allow that kind of oppression on 
their own students, I think, is important. I think for this body to be 
able to speak out with one voice to say we are not going to allow 
American soldiers nor our allies to be called in by a kangaroo 
international court, I think, is important to us.
  And this week, of all weeks, on Holocaust Remembrance Week, we should 
speak with one voice. To say ``never again'' means never again. And we 
will continue to stand with our friends and allies in Israel, and we 
will continue to stand against anti-Semitism here, there, anywhere.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.