PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Senate Minority Caucus condemned the attacks by Hamas against Israel describing attacks over the weekend as a, “mass slaughter of innocent civilians perpetrated when the militant terrorist group.”
“We stand firmly in support of Israel and extend our heartfelt prayers for peace and security in the region,” noted a release from the caucus.
Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, a Republican representing District 23 in Burrillville, Glocester and North Smithfield offered sympathy to all those affected by the attacks.
“Reports of the horrific acts that occurred in Kfar Aza, a Kibbutz on the Israel-Gaza border that I was fortunate enough to visit this past December, are particularly disturbing and just unimaginable,” said de la Cruz. “This was not a military base or a conventional war target, but a community of families, innocent civilians that became mass casualties in their own homes, gunned down in their beds, killed by grenades, guns and knives.”
“There are reports that babies were beheaded, women raped, and hostages taken,” de la Cruz said. “It is terrorism in its most savage form. There is no excuse for the willful carnage that took place this weekend.”
Senate Minority Whip Gordon Rogers of District 21 in Coventry, Foster, Scituate, West Greenwich; and Senator Elaine Morgan of District 34 in Charlestown, Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond and West Greenwich also issued statements.
“Israel has every right to defend itself and to secure its borders,” said Rogers. “Like the attacks on America on 9/11, this terrorism should not be without severe consequences for the perpetrators. Peace and security will only return with the eradication of terrorist threats.”
“There is much moral ambiguity in this modern world, but make no mistake, the cold-blooded murder of unarmed civilians, including children, is pure evil,” said Morgan. “There is no defense for these acts of barbarism. Further, now is not the time for displays of anti-Semitism, but a time for increased humanitarianism.”