Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) delivered a passionate summation of support for Israel on the Senate floor Thursday, saying any blame being placed on the Jewish state for the deaths of civilians in Gaza was unfair and untrue.
Rubio said any civilian casualties were "100 percent" the fault of the terrorist militant group Hamas. The Washington Free Beacon has reported on Hamas' policy of ordering citizens to remain in their homes if they are about to be bombed by Israel as an intentional effort to boost its casualty rate and garner sympathy.
"It is tragic, unfortunately, that civilians are dying in Gaza," Rubio said. "But the reason why civilians are dying is 100 percent Hamas' fault. You see, this is an organization that puts rockets and military installations right next to nurseries and hospitals and civilian population centers. You know why they do that? They do that because they know that when they launch a rocket, Israel will respond by hitting that rocket launcher, and when that rocket launcher is destroyed, so are the areas around it, and then they can get the cameras to go in there and say, 'Look what Israel did. They wiped out a nursery or an apartment building.'"
Hamas know exactly what they're doing, Rubio said, in order to get positive coverage that even American press outlets will buy. Rubio also pointed out Israel's policy of warning civilians before performing strikes, as opposed to Hamas that deliberately targets Israeli civilians.
"Israel is fighting for their very survival," Rubio said. "On the other side of this conflict is a terrorist organization bent on their destruction."
Rubio added he was "deeply troubled" by the Obama administration's attitude toward Israel.
"I was concerned about the amount of pressure that the Secretary of State was placing on the Israelis to enter into a negotiation with a Palestinian authority that didn't have the authority or the power to reach a peace agreement they could possibly enforce, much less deliver on," Rubio said. "I was concerned that that pressure was being put on them at a time when Israel faced so many other challenges, the No. 1 being the ambitions that Iran has to acquire a nuclear weapon and long-range rockets that could strike Israel and eventually the mainland of the United States."