McConnell praises Israel’s ‘unshakeable resolve’ one year after Oct. 7 attacks

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised Israel’s “unshakeable resolve” to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that left more than 1,100 people dead in Israeli communities outside of Gaza.

“Time has not dulled the pain inflicted on the people of Israel one year ago today, nor eased the grief left in its wake,” McConnell said in a statement Monday.

“The Jewish state has met a year of trial with unshakeable resolve. In the face of resurgent anti-Semitism, Jewish families and communities around the world have refused to live in fear,” he said.

Hamas militants seized more than 250 hostages from inside Israel a year ago, and more than 100 including four Americans are still being held in Gaza, something McConnell alluded to in his statement.

“In steadfast vigil, families of innocent hostages have kept the faith,” the GOP leader said.

And he criticized the “leaders or elite institutions” that “attempt to draw moral equivalence” between the Oct. 7 attacks on Israeli civilians and the hardships suffered by Palestinians during Israel’s military incursion into Gaza. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, and most of the territory’s population has been displaced. Gaza and the health ministry are controlled by Hamas.

“The difference is unmistakable,” McConnell said.

McConnell said the “stakes” of the war in Gaza and against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon are “as clear today as they were one year ago” and argued that the United States and other Western democracies have an obligation to stand with Israel.

“The terrorists and their patrons seek not only to destroy Israel, but to challenge the very American-led order that preserves our way of life,” he warned.

“As Americans and free people around the world remember the victims of October 7th and pray for peace, let us recommit to stand with Israel in its righteous fight,” he added.

Updated at 12:39 p.m. EDT