‘Defeat evil’: A public statement from lawmakers and others on the Israel-Hamas War

We are all individuals who devoted significant portions of our lives to the national security of the United States. Some of us served in senior positions in the U.S. military, some of us in policy departments and agencies, and some of us in the intelligence community. Some of us were political appointees, and some of us were career officials. Many of us worked for presidents of both political parties.

All of us believe that Israel’s victory in its war to eradicate Hamas and other terrorist proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran is critical for Middle East peace and stability.

We believe that the United States government must provide the IDF the time, resources, and diplomatic support necessary to utterly defeat Hamas.

Moreover, Israel is at the vanguard of a global battle to defend and protect the values that define Western civilization. As such, the success of Israel’s efforts is vital to the interests of the United States and all other countries that cherish life and liberty.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its Gazan camp followers broke a long-standing ceasefire to engage in mass kidnapping, rape, murder, and unspeakably depraved torture in southern Israel. Since then, Hamas has continued its genocidal mission of eradicating the Jewish state by firing thousands of rockets into Israel, directly threatening millions of civilians. Hamas, like ISIS before it, worships the most barbaric forms of violence, rooted in a perverse Islamist ideology.

Hamas, even as it continues to target civilians in Israel, is using Gazans, many against their will, both as human shields and propaganda swords. Notwithstanding Hamas’s depravity and the direct complicity of many Gazans in the atrocities of October 7, the Israel Defense Forces comply with the rules of war, the Geneva Conventions, and otherwise, taking extraordinary measures to mitigate harm to civilians.

With the aim of freeing scores of hostages — including American citizens — and eliminating Hamas, the IDF is neutralizing terrorists and systematically destroying Hamas’s multibillion-dollar military infrastructure, including tunnels, weapons factories, training facilities, and command centers, much of it hidden within civilian areas.

Notably, Hamas used “humanitarian aid” from Western governments, including the United States and the European Union, as well as the United Nations, to subsidize the construction of this terrorist infrastructure. It used and still uses international aid to support its military operations. Hamas ruled in Gaza thanks in substantial part to Western aid.

Accordingly, we believe that the United States government must provide the IDF the time, resources, and diplomatic support necessary to utterly defeat Hamas — dismantle its operational capability, eliminate its leadership, and discredit its ideology. This is in the national security interest of the United States.

We, therefore:

• Commend Congress for supporting the people of Israel, the IDF, and the government of Israel, and for ensuring that the IDF has the munitions and armaments they need to defeat Hamas and other malign regional actors. Such assistance is in America’s national interest, and it must continue.
• Support Israel’s military goal that the war will end only when Hamas no longer maintains the capacity to murder. We urge U.S. policymakers to reject, in absolute terms, any prolonged ceasefire without the unconditional surrender of Hamas and the release of every hostage held by Hamas. And we strongly encourage the president and other senior government officials to speak out with absolute moral clarity. Israel’s war is just.
• Urge the president, in his role as the commander-in-chief, to immediately restore global deterrence against Iran, which directly threatens America and Israel alike. Similarly, we urge President Biden and his administration to refrain from imposing strategically damaging constraints on Israel’s defensive military and security activities or imposing post-conflict conditions.

An American Israeli, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, lost his son, a major in the IDF reserves, in the battle against Hamas. At the funeral, this father said: “Mr. President, don’t pressure us. Let us do what we know how to do, what we must do: defeat evil. This is a war of light against darkness, of truth against lies, of civility against barbarism.”

We agree. Let Israel win. May God defend all that is right and good.

Signed,

Senator Ted Cruz
Texas
Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, Rules & Administration Committee, Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee
Former Associate Deputy Attorney General

Congressman Michael Waltz
Florida, 6th District
Member, House Armed Services Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Former Defense Policy Director, Department of Defense Former Counter-Terrorism Advisor to the Vice President

Congressman Brian Mast
Florida, 21st District
Member, House Foreign Affairs Committee United States Army (Retired)
Recipient Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal for Valor, Purple Heart Medal, and Defense Meritorious Service Medal

Robert Wilkie
Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Former Under Secretary of Defense
Former Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Colonel United States Air Force Reserve

Richard Grenell
Former United States Ambassador to Germany
Former Acting Director of National Intelligence

David M. Friedman
Former United States Ambassador to Israel

Congressman Allen B. West
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army (Retired)
Member, 112th Congress

Congressman Lee Zeldin
Former United States Congressman, New York, 1st District
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Reserve

Mitchell M. Zais, Ph.D.
Brigadier General, United States Army (Retired)
Former Commanding General, Combined Joint Task Force Kuwait Former Chief of Conventional War Plans, Joint Chiefs of Staff Former Acting Secretary of Education
Former Deputy Secretary of Education

Bonnie Glick
Former Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer, U.S. Agency for International Development

Matthew Pottinger
Former Assistant to the President Former Deputy National Security Advisor
Chairman, China Program, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

John A. Eisenberg
Former Assistant to the President and Legal Advisor to the National Security Council Former Deputy Counsel to the President

Douglas J. Feith
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Ezra Cohen
Former Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict
Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council
Former Department of Defense Operations Officer

Douglas M. Fears
Former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to the President
Former Deputy Assistant to the President
Former Acting Deputy National Security Adviser
Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic & International Security Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)

Victoria Coates
Former Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East and North African Affairs Former Senior Advisor, Secretary of Energy

Earl G. Matthews
Former Deputy Assistant to the President
Former Senior Director, National Security Council Staff Former Acting General Counsel of the Army

Robert Greenway
Former Deputy Assistant to the President
Former Senior Director, Middle East and North Africa, National Security Council
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Defense Intelligence Agency’s U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM)
United States Army Special Forces, Retired

Mark Vandroff
Former Deputy Assistant to the President
Former Senior Director for Defense Policy and Strategy, National Security Council Captain, United States Navy (Retired)

Alexander B. Gray
Former Deputy Assistant to the President
Former Chief of Staff, White House National Security Council

Anthony J. Tata
Brigadier General, United States Army (Retired)
Former Performing the Duties of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

Mary Beth Long
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Former Chair of NATO’s High-Level Group (HLG)
Former Principal Deputy Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Asia, and Southeast Asia
Former Deputy Secretary of Defense for Counter Narcoterrorism

Elizabeth Erin Walsh
Former Assistant Secretary of Commerce Former Deputy Assistant to the President
Former Senior Director for African Affairs, National Security Council
Former United States Representative to the United Nations General Assembly

Aryeh Lightstone
Former Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords
Former Senior Advisor to the United States Ambassador to Israel

Derek J. Harvey
Colonel, United States Army (Retired)
Former National Security Council Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa Former Special Assistant to the President
Former Director for Investigations and Senior Advisor to the Ranking Member and Senior Leader for the Middle East, House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee

Michael Ellis
Former Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council

Brian J. Cavanaugh
Former Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Former Senior Director for Resilience Policy, National Security Council

Amanda Rothschild
Former Special Assistant to the President Former National Security Speechwriter

Reed D. Rubinstein
Former Acting General Counsel, U.S. Department of Education
Former Deputy Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice Former Senior Counselor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Joe Anderson
Lieutenant General, United States Army (Retired)

Rod Bishop
Lieutenant General, United States Air Force (Retired)
Chairman of the Board, Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services

Fred McCorkle
Lieutenant General, United States Marine Corps (Retired)

Thomas W. Spoehr
Lieutenant General, United States Army (Retired)

William D. Lee
Vice Admiral, United States Coast Guard (Retired)

Mark E. Mitchell
Colonel, United States Army (Retired)
Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict

Joe Arbuckle
Major General, United States Army (Retired)

Bob Hollingsworth
Major General, United States Marine Corps (Retired)

William Inboden
Former Senior Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council
Former Member, Policy Planning Staff, Department of State

Kenneth R. Weinstein
Former Chairman, United States Agency for Global Media

David Rader
Former Deputy Director, Global Investment and Economic Security Directorate, Department of Defense

Daniel Runde
Former Chairman, Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at USAID Former Chairman, Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee at the U.S. EXIM Bank

Shellie Bressler
Former Senior Professional Staff Member, Minority Staff, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Senior Professional Staff Member, Majority Staff, House Foreign Affairs Committee

Nelson Mellitz
Colonel, United States Air Force (Retired)

Clifford D. May
Founder and President, Foundation for Defense of Democracy
Former Commissioner, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Advisor to the president, secretary of state, and Congress

Michael Pregent
Former U.S. Army Intelligence Officer
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

Mark Dubowitz
CEO, Foundation for Defense of Democracy
Advisor, last four presidential administrations, including the Biden administration

Ray Takeyh
Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations