Ackerman Condemns Attacks on Israeli Targets
U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, today issued the following statement condemning the attacks that targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia:
“I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms the attacks today on Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia. Iran is the likely culprit for these despicable acts. These acts of terror further demonstrate the absolute need to prevent the bloody-handed ayatollahs who rule Iran from acquiring the capability to produce nuclear arms. Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and it has declared with shocking regularity its commitment to Israel’s destruction. While much international attention focuses on second-guessing Israel, it is Iran, by its continued defiance of multiple specific mandates from the U.N. Security Council concerning its illicit nuclear program, that has forced responsible nations to impose crippling economic sanctions and to consider the necessity of military action to prevent Iran’s nuclear proliferation.
Iran has frequently attacked Israel and Jews worldwide through terrorist proxies; it has spent billions to undermine the Middle East Peace Process and avert an Arab-Israeli peace; and it continues to fund subversion and violence throughout the Middle East, most notably today, in Syria, where Iran is propping up failed dictator Bashar al-Assad. Only weeks ago, Iran was caught red-handed trying to arrange the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States at a popular restaurant in our nation’s capital. Such a renegade pariah nation must be stopped from sowing further chaos and must never, never acquire the means to produce nuclear arms in support of their horrific plans for Israel’s destruction, regional hegemony and control of the Arabian Gulf’s natural resources.
I wish to extend my sympathy to the victims of today’s attack in New Delhi and I hope they make full and complete recoveries. Finally, I want to clearly express my strong support for the State of Israel and for its right to respond in self-defense to these terrorist attacks.”
