SF 5175

as introduced - 93rd Legislature (2023 - 2024) Posted on 03/22/2024 09:28am

A resolution
memorializing the Government of Israel to continue to defend its citizens and bolster
peaceful co-existence and mutual respect between Israelis and Palestinians.

WHEREAS, on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists broke the then-existing ceasefire and
launched a massive, unprovoked war on Israel resulting in the worst massacre of Jews since the
Holocaust; and

WHEREAS, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on the Jewish Sabbath and the religious holiday
of Simchat Torah, and brutally murdered 1,200 men, women, and children, injured thousands, and
took 240 hostages including babies and children; and

WHEREAS, Israeli police have gathered thousands of testimonies from eyewitnesses of
Hamas violence on October 7, 2023, including countless instances of rape, gang rape, sexual
mutilation, and other forms of sexual violence, and are continuing to gather evidence; and

WHEREAS, released Israeli hostages have reported instances of sexual assault or abuse that
occurred while held hostage by Hamas; and

WHEREAS, since October 7, 2023, Hamas launched over 13,500 rockets indiscriminately
into Israel; and

WHEREAS, at least 30 United States citizens in Israel are among those killed by Hamas
since October 7, 2023, and at least eight were taken hostage; and

WHEREAS, since October 7, 2023, Hamas is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds,
if not thousands, of Palestinians through failed rocket attacks on Israel which landed inside Gaza;
and

WHEREAS, Hamas is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians by
launching an unprovoked invasion into sovereign Israeli territory and continuing to fire rockets at
Israeli civilian communities while cynically embedding itself within civilian Palestinian communities;
and

WHEREAS, the expansion of this war to other fronts by Iran's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah,
and its proxy in Yemen, the Houthi rebels, risks a wider, regional war; and

WHEREAS, Hamas is a United States-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization; and

WHEREAS, Hamas' founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel, the killing of Jews
everywhere, and embraces multiple antisemitic conspiracy theories including The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion; and

WHEREAS, since October 7, senior leadership for Hamas has promised to repeat the atrocities
of October 7 over and over again; and

WHEREAS, Iran has long provided support to Hamas and other terrorist groups and proxies,
and prior United States government unclassified assessments indicated that, "Iran has historically
provided up to $100 million annually in combined support to Palestinian terrorist groups, including
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General
Command"; and

WHEREAS, Hamas has used this support from Iran, stolen international aid intended for the
people of Gaza, and the levying of onerous taxes on the people of Gaza to construct an extensive
and sophisticated network of tunnels, which are at least 350 miles in length and larger than the
London subway system, for the sole purpose of carrying out its forever war against Israel; and

WHEREAS, the combined net worth of Hamas' leadership is worth at least $11 billion at the
same time that civilians in Gaza are suffering terribly due to the unprovoked war that Hamas
launched against Israel on October 7 and continues to wage against Israel by launching rockets and
holding hostages from within civilian communities in Gaza; and

WHEREAS, any sustainable ceasefire in and reconstruction of Gaza can only be achieved
with the return of all the hostages kidnapped by Hamas, the removal of Hamas from power in Gaza,
and the replacement of Hamas with a new functioning governing authority in Gaza which is
committed to living in peace with Israel; and

WHEREAS, despite all of its challenges it has long been the policy of successive United
States governments, of both Democratic and Republican administrations, to support a two-state
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of Minnesota that the Senate:

(1) stands with the people of Israel as they defend themselves against the barbaric war launched
by Hamas and other terrorists;

(2) affirms Israel's obligation to defend the lives of all its citizens;

(3) condemns Hamas' brutal and unjustifiable war against Israel which has resulted in the
deaths of thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians;

(4) calls on Hamas' leadership to immediately and safely release all living hostages, return
the bodies of deceased hostages, as well as leave Gaza so that the people of Israel and Gaza can
have a better future;

(5) mourns the over 1,400 Israelis and 30-plus Americans killed, as well as the thousands of
innocent Palestinian civilians killed as a consequence of Hamas' unprovoked attack on Israel;

(6) condemns Iran's support for terrorist groups and proxies, including Hamas, Palestinian
Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Houthi rebels;

(7) urges full enforcement of Minnesota's existing sanctions statute against Iran's Revolutionary
Guard to prevent Iran's funding of terrorist groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
Hezbollah, and the Houthi rebels; and

(8) applauds efforts here in Minnesota and elsewhere to bolster peaceful co-existence and
mutual respect between Israelis and Palestinians where both peoples can enjoy the dignity and
security of living in two states for two peoples in the land between the Jordan River and the
Mediterranean Sea.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed
to prepare copies of this resolution and transmit them to the Government of Israel.