WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed his recent meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the Intelligence Community in Israel as part of a congressional delegation (CODEL) to the Middle East with a bipartisan group of his Senate Select Committee on Intelligence colleagues. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“I just returned from a trip to the Middle East with a bipartisan group of colleagues from the Senate Intelligence Committee.”

“We also had the opportunity… to travel to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Minister of Defense, [Yoav] Gallant, also, members of the Intelligence Community there in Tel Aviv, the Shin Bet, which is responsible for domestic security, and of course, Mossad, the legendary intelligence agency of the Israeli government.”

“The evil that the world witnessed on October 7 is not limited to Hamas.”

“It is Iran that is the head of the octopus. Its tentacles of terror, its proxies, extend throughout the region and threaten to destabilize the Middle East and potentially start a much larger war.”

“I hope in the coming weeks the Senate can finally make progress on the need for assistance for Israel. The House passed an Israel aid bill on November 2, more than two months ago, and the Senate has done nothing.” 

“The clock is ticking, and the Senate needs to act soon to ensure Israel has what it needs to defeat Hamas and confront the growing threat from Iran.”