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By Rep. Jerry Carl

Over the course of the past few days, Hamas has fired several thousand rockets at Israelis – both Jews and Arabs alike. Hamas has long been Iran’s proxy in the region, promoting conflict, hatred and violence in deliberate attempts to kill Israeli civilians.

Let’s be clear – Israel absolutely has a right to defend itself against these unwarranted and evil attacks. Additionally, the United States must continue supporting Israel and ensuring further cooperation between our two countries. For years, the United States has committed to supporting Israeli defense programs such as the Iron Dome. What we’ve seen in the past few week has highlighted how important these defense programs are and how important it is for the United States to provide continued support to Israel’s defense.

A strong and secure Israel is critical to peace in the region, but Iran’s continued aggression in the Middle East is a significant threat to the region and the rest of the world. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the horrible Iran Nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was a huge step toward ensuring Iran and the terrorist groups it supports (such as Hamas) never get their hands on nuclear weapons.

During his first days in office, President Joseph Biden began taking steps to rejoin the deeply flawed Iran Nuclear Deal, which gives Iran the opportunity to continue growing their nuclear program while supporting and promoting terrorism around the world. I was proud to take immediate action by cosponsoring legislation to prevent Biden from rejoining the Iran Nuclear Deal. Iran poses a significant threat to regional and global security, and it would be a grave mistake for Biden to rejoin the Iran Nuclear Deal without ensuring United Nations (UN) nuclear inspectors have access to all of Iran’s nuclear sites and the ability to finalize a comprehensive report on Iran’s nuclear activities.

The United States must continue leading to promote peace in the region, which will only happen by continuing to support Israel’s security and standing against the aggression of Iran and terrorist groups such as Hamas. Israel is a crucial ally in the war on terror and they continually provide us with key intelligence against terrorist activity around the globe. A strong and secure Israel is critical to regional and global security, and I will continue doing all I can to support and defend Israel.