III 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 548 

To express the sense of the Senate that Israel has an undeniable right 

to self-defense, and to condemn the recent destabilizing actions by extremists aboard the ship Mavi Marmara. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 9, 2010 

Mr. CORNYN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

To express the sense of the Senate that Israel has an undeniable right to self-defense, and to condemn the recent 

destabilizing actions by extremists aboard the ship Mavi 

Marmara. 

Whereas the State of Israel, since its founding in 1948, has 

been a strong and steadfast ally of the United States, 

standing alone in its commitment to democracy, individual liberty, and free-market principles in the Middle 

East, a region characterized by instability and violence; 

Whereas the special bond between the United States and 

Israel, forged through common values and mutual interests, must never be broken; 

Whereas Israel has an undeniable right to defend itself 

against any threat to its security, as does every nation; 


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•SRES 548 IS 

Whereas Hamas is a terrorist group, formally designated as 

a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Secretary of 

State, and similarly designated by the European Union; 

Whereas Hamas is committed to the annihilation of Israel 

and opposes the peaceful resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; 

Whereas Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 

through violent means and has maintained control ever 

since; 

Whereas Hamas routinely violates the human rights of the 

residents of Gaza, including attempting to control and intimidate political rivals through extra-judicial killing, torture, severe beatings, maiming, and arbitrary detentions; 

Whereas Hamas continues to hold prisoner Israeli Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit, who was seized on Israeli soil and has 

been denied basic rights, including contact with the International Red Cross; 

Whereas the military build-up of Hamas has been enabled by 

the smuggling of arms and other materiel into Gaza; 

Whereas the Government of Iran has materially aided and 

supported Hamas by providing extensive funding, weapons, and training; 

Whereas, since 2001, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist 

organizations have fired more than 10,000 rockets and 

mortars from Gaza into Israel, killing at least 18 Israelis 

and wounding dozens more; 

Whereas approximately 860,000 Israeli civilians, more than 

12 percent of Israel’s population, reside within range of 

rockets fired from Gaza and live in fear of attacks; 


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•SRES 548 IS 

Whereas, in 2007, the Government of Israel, out of concern 

for the safety of its citizens, put in place a legitimate and 

justified blockade of Gaza, which has been effective in reducing the flow of weapons into Gaza and the firing of 

rockets from Gaza into southern Israel; 

Whereas, at the same time, the Government of Egypt imposed a blockade of Gaza from its land border; 

Whereas, according to Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador 

to the United States, ‘‘If the sea lanes are open to 

Hamas in Gaza . . . they will acquire thousands of rockets that will threaten every single citizen in the state of 

Israel and also kill the peace process. . . . Hamas armed 

with thousands of rockets not only threatens 7,500,000 

Israelis but it’s the end of the peace process.’’; 

Whereas the Israeli blockade has not hindered the transfer of 

approximately 1,000,000 tons of humanitarian supplies 

into Gaza over the last 18 months to aid its 1,500,000 

residents; 

Whereas, on May 28, 2010, the ‘‘Free Gaza’’ flotilla, which 

included the Mavi Marmara and 5 other ships, departed 

from a port in Turkey and sailed towards Israel’s defensive naval blockade of Gaza; 

Whereas the sponsor of the flotilla was a Turkish organization, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation; 

Whereas the Humanitarian Relief Foundation has aided al 

Qaeda in the past, ‘‘basically helping al Qaeda when 

[Osama] bin Laden started to want to target U.S. soil,’’ 

according to statements by a former French counterterrorism official, in a June 2, 2010, Associated Press interview; 


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•SRES 548 IS 

Whereas the Humanitarian Relief Foundation has a clear 

link to Hamas, according to a 2008 order of the Government of Israel, and the Humanitarian Relief Foundation 

is a member of the Union for Good, a United States-designated terrorist organization created by Hamas leaders 

in 2000 to help fund Hamas; 

Whereas there were at least 5 active terrorist operatives 

among the passengers on the Mavi Marmara, with affiliations with terrorist groups such as al Qaeda and 

Hamas, according to the Israel Defense Forces; 

Whereas the flotilla’s primary aim was to break the Israeli 

blockade of Gaza, under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza; 

Whereas, on May 27, 2010, while the flotilla was moving towards Gaza, one of its organizers admitted, ‘‘This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it’s 

about breaking Israel’s siege on 1,500,000 Palestinians,’’ 

according to news reports; 

Whereas, based on interviews with Mavi Marmara passengers 

after the incident, the actual intention of passengers on 

the Mavi Marmara had been to achieve ‘‘martyrdom’’ at 

the hands of the Israel Defense Forces; 

Whereas Saleh Al-Azraq, a journalist who was aboard the 

ship, recounted that, ‘‘The moment the ship set sail, the 

cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’ began . . . It made you feel as 

if you were going on an Islamic conquest or raid,’’ according to an interview recorded on Al-Hiwar TV on 

June 4, 2010; 

Whereas Hussein Orush, a Humanitarian Relief Foundation 

official, read from the diary of a dead Mavi Marmara 

passenger: ‘‘The last lines he wrote before the attack 


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•SRES 548 IS 

were: ‘Only a short time left before martyrdom. This is 

the most important stage of my life. Nothing is more 

beautiful than martyrdom, except for one’s love for one’s 

mother. But I don’t know what is sweeter—my mother 

or martyrdom.’ ’’, and also stated, ‘‘All the passengers on 

board the ship were ready for this outcome. Everybody 

wanted and was ready to become a martyr. . . . Our goal 

was to reach Gaza or to die trying. All the ship’s passengers were ready for this. IHH was ready for this 

too.’’, according to an interview recorded on Al-Jazeera 

TV on June 5, 2010; 

Whereas Ali Haider Banjinin, another dead Mavi Marmara 

passenger, told his family before departing on the flotilla, 

‘‘I am going to be a martyr, I dreamed about it,’’ according to news reports in Turkey; 

Whereas Ali Ekber Yaratilmis, another dead Mavi Marmara 

passenger, ‘‘always wanted to become a Martyr,’’ one of 

his friends told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper in an 

interview on June 3, 2010; 

Whereas one female passenger on the deck of the Mavi 

Marmara stated, ‘‘Right now we face one of two happy 

endings: either martyrdom or reaching Gaza,’’ according 

to Al Jazeera footage taken prior to the incident; 

Whereas the Government of Israel had extended a reasonable 

offer to transfer the flotilla’s humanitarian cargo to 

Gaza; 

Whereas the Mavi Marmara and the other ships of the flotilla 

ignored repeated Israeli calls to turn around or be peacefully escorted to an Israeli port outside of Gaza; 

Whereas, on May 31, 2010, the Israeli Navy intercepted the 

Mavi Marmara 75 miles west of Haifa, Israel, in an efVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:15 Jun 10, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR548.IS SR548

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•SRES 548 IS 

fort to maintain the integrity of the blockade and prevent 

potential smuggling of arms and other materiel into the 

hands of Hamas; 

Whereas, upon the boarding of the Mavi Marmara by the 

Israeli Navy, the Mavi Marmara’s passengers brutally 

and violently attacked the members of the Israeli Navy 

with knives, clubs, pipes, and other weapons, injuring 

several of them; 

Whereas the members of the Israeli Navy, under attack and 

in grave danger, reacted in self-defense and used lethal 

force against their attackers on the Mavi Marmara, 

shooting and killing 9 of them; 

Whereas the incident has fomented unwarranted international 

criticism of Israel and its blockade of Gaza; 

Whereas, in the time since the attack, the United Nations 

has unjustly criticized the actions of the Government of 

Israel and called for an investigation of such actions; and 

Whereas the actions of the United Nations are undermining 

Israel’s inherent right to self-defense, compromising its 

sovereignty, and helping to legitimize Hamas: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate— 

2 (1) that Israel has an inherent and undeniable 

3 right to defend itself against any threat to the safety 

4 of its citizens; 

5 (2) to reaffirm that the United States stands 

6 with Israel in pursuit of shared security goals, in7 cluding the security of Israel; 


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•SRES 548 IS 

1 (3) to condemn the violent attack and provo2 cation by extremists aboard the Mavi Marmara, who 

3 created a highly destabilizing incident in a region 

4 that cannot afford further instability; 

5 (4) to condemn any future such attempts to 

6 break the Israeli blockade of Gaza for the purpose 

7 of creating or provoking violent confrontation or oth8 erwise undermining the security of Israel; 

9 (5) to condemn Hamas for its failure to recog10 nize the right of Israel to exist, its human rights 

11 abuses against the residents of Gaza, and its contin12 ued rejection of a constructive path to peace for the 

13 Israeli and Palestinian people; 

14 (6) to condemn the Government of Iran for its 

15 role, past and present, in directly supporting Hamas 

16 and undermining the security of Israel; 

17 (7) to encourage the Government of Turkey to 

18 recognize the importance of continued strong rela19 tions with Israel and the necessity of closely scruti20 nizing organizations with potential ties to terrorist 

21 groups; and 

22 (8) to express profound disappointment with 

23 the counterproductive actions of the United Nations 

24 regarding this incident. 

Æ 


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