U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has introduced legislation that would impose sanctions on Hamas and others associated with the terrorist organization.
The Hamas Sanctions Act would prohibit U.S. tax dollars from going to the Gaza Strip as well as sanction every Hamas member and affiliate known to the U.S. within 15 days.
The act would also block Hamas’ ability to find safe havens abroad in countries like Qatar or Turkey. It would impose sanctions on hotels, landlords, banks, and similar businesses in allied countries that provide services to Hamas leaders.
Furthermore, it strengthens Cruz’s past legislation that imposed sanctions for the use of human shields, which passed into law in 2019. The act would renew the 2019 legislation that is set to expire. It also sanctions Hamas-affiliate Palestine Islamic Jihad.
“The United States should use every resource at our disposal, including our diplomatic power and sanctions leverage, for as long as it takes, to ensure that our Israeli allies are able to utterly eradicate Hamas,” said Cruz.
Cruz blamed the Biden administration for its role in the conflict, claiming, “Instead of countering Hamas and its enablers, however, the Biden administration has spent the last two and a half years indirectly and even directly funding them. The administration poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip, despite knowing this would benefit Hamas terrorists, and allowed roughly $100 billion to flow to the Iranian regime, which they knew the Ayatollah would pass along to Hamas.”
Cruz highlighted that “The administration also refuses to enforce sanctions against Hamas for terrorism, for the use of human shields, or against those who violate terrorism sanctions and provide Hamas with financial or material support.”
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas state agencies have stepped up to offer support for Israel.
As soon as the war between Israel and Hamas commenced, Abbott pledged the state’s support for Israel, saying that Texas stands “ready to offer our complete support to the Israeli and Jewish communities.”
Two days after the conflict began, Abbott issued an executive order preventing “every state agency from purchasing goods produced in or exported from the Gaza Strip, and from any organization or state actor with ties to Hamas.”
Earlier this week, Abbott joined the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission and directed its members to identify ways Texans can quickly report and take preemptive action against acts of antisemitism.
