Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Co-Chair of the Israel Allies Caucus, issued the following statement in response to the Iranian missile attack launched against Israel:
“Make no mistake, the adversaries of Israel are the adversaries of the United States.
Now more than ever, we must stand in absolute solidarity with our great U.S. ally—and the only true, stable democracy in the Middle East.
All efforts must be made to extend the strongest support possible to the people of Israel—including both defensive weapons systems like Iron Dome, Arrow systems, and David’s Sling and all necessary offensive military capabilities—for as long as it takes to defeat Iran, Hezbollah, and other proxies bent on carrying out radical Islamists’ aggression.
It is critical that the United States immediately push for the resumption of sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, take further efforts to deny sanctuary to Iranian terrorist proxies, and ensure the Tehran regime is unable to use international governing bodies—such as the United Nations and UNRWA—to fund and support its export of antisemitism and terrorism around the globe.
Furthermore, the Federal Government must immediately investigate all Iranian-directed campaigns of influence within the United States and provide Congress with a full accounting of all Iranian efforts to influence federal policy as well as their attempts to sow discord through the funding of pro-terrorist protests since October 7th.
It is well past time that this threat is addressed in a serious manner. The United States must make explicitly clear that it will no longer tolerate a campaign of destruction against our closest ally in the region, nor will it allow the Iranian regime to hold the world hostage through acts of violence.”
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