The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver
Israel Solidarity Rally
42nd Street @ 2nd Avenue, Manhattan
Sunday, January 11, 2009 [11 A.M.]


Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and a delegation of New York State Assembly members traveled to Israel in December 2008 on a fact finding mission to examine first hand the hostilities being committed against the communities near Gaza. Silver (center) and the Assembly delegation met with Shaul Goldstein, the Council Mayor of Gush Etzion near the Herodian landmark.

In addition to Silver, the delegation included Assembly members (front row, next to the Speaker and Mayor) Felix Ortiz and Ellen Jaffee and (Second row, from left) Linda Rosenthal, Micah Kellner, Matthew Titone, Deborah Glick, Alan Maisel and Michelle Schimel, as well as New York Jewish Council Relations Committee President Janice Shorenstein. (Third row) Assembly members Alec Brook-Krasny, Hakeem Jeffries, Brian Kavanagh, Rory Lancman, Ruben Diaz Jr., Kevin Cahill and Michael Miller, executive vice president, New York JCRC. Other Assembly members on the mission (not shown): Dick Gottfried, Amy Paulin, Michael Spano and Janele Hyer-Spencer.

Speaker Silver, standing in the City of Sderot, looks over the terrain leading up to Gaza, which is less than a mile away.
Speaker Silver, (from Left) New York Jewish Community Relations Council President Janice Shorenstein and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat at a dinner meeting in Jerusalem. Mayor Barkat briefed the Assembly delegation about the security measures being taken by the City of Jerusalem and the Israeli government to protect its citizens from the violence in Gaza.
Silver, before the current war broke out, inspected rocket fragments being collected in Sderot as evidence of the numerous missile attacks being launched from Gaza to terrorize the Israeli people.

Loading image. Please wait
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and a delegation of New York State Assembly members traveled to Israel in December 2008 on a fact finding mission to examine first hand the hostilities being committed against the communities near Gaza. Silver (center) and the Assembly delegation met with Shaul Goldstein, the Council Mayor of Gush Etzion near the Herodian landmark.

In addition to Silver, the delegation included Assembly members (front row, next to the Speaker and Mayor) Felix Ortiz and Ellen Jaffee and (Second row, from left) Linda Rosenthal, Micah Kellner, Matthew Titone, Deborah Glick, Alan Maisel and Michelle Schimel, as well as New York Jewish Council Relations Committee President Janice Shorenstein. (Third row) Assembly members Alec Brook-Krasny, Hakeem Jeffries, Brian Kavanagh, Rory Lancman, Ruben Diaz Jr., Kevin Cahill and Michael Miller, executive vice president, New York JCRC. Other Assembly members on the mission (not shown): Dick Gottfried, Amy Paulin, Michael Spano and Janele Hyer-Spencer.

Not long ago, I visited Sderot. I saw the devastation Hamas rockets rained down on Israel.

So I ask those who protest Israel's actions in Gaza, how many rockets must hit Israeli towns?

How many Israeli citizens - men, women and children - must be injured or killed before it is okay with you for Israel to fight back?

If we sit back passively and do nothing simply because the cowards who attack Israel employ human shields, what will become of Israel?

Are we to wait until the Jewish homeland is nothing more than a bomb crater?

No!

I remember 1993. I remember Yitzhak Rabin standing in the Rose Garden. I remember his words:

"We who have fought against you, the Palestinians, we say to you today in a loud and clear voice: enough blood and tears. Enough!"

In the twisted minds of the Hamas terrorists, there will never be enough blood, there will never be enough tears, until Israel is wiped off the face of the earth.

The Jewish people will not allow that to happen. Not another Holocaust! Never again!

If Hamas will not listen to reason, if Hamas will not allow the Jewish people to live in peace, then Hamas can suffer the iron fist of the Israeli military.

And if the Palestinian people want an end to the fighting, let them kick Hamas out of their hiding places.

No other country on earth would put up with this endless barrage of rockets, and neither will Israel!

To the leaders of the world I say: if you want an end to the fighting, end the flow of arms to Hamas.

Choke out these terrorists until they are gasping for peace.

Stop Hamas and you stop the bloodshed.

Stop Hamas!