Excerpts from a speech House Majority Leader Tom DeLay delivered to the Israeli Knesset on July 30, 2003.

"Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for your invitation and for that warm reception.I want to take this opportunity to thank the citizens of Israel for their generous welcome and hospitality to me over the last three days.

I look forward to sharing my experiences with President Bush, whose leadership and clarity make peace in the Middle East possible and victory in the war on terror inevitable. In his comments yesterday, the president reaffirmed America's support for Israel's security and our commitment to fight "terrorism wherever it is found."

Even now, I am filled with a gratitude and humility I cannot express, I stand before you today, in solidarity, as an Israeli of the heart.The solidarity between the United States and Israel is deeper than the various interests we share. It goes to the very nature of man, to the endowment of our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is the solidarity of Moses and Lincoln.

And in its name I come to you — in the midst a great global conflict against evil — with a simple message: "Be Not Afraid."

My country is not ignorant, nor are we indifferent to your struggle. We know our victory in the war on terror depends on Israel's survival. And we know Israel's survival depends on the willingness of free nations — especially our own — to stand by all endangered democracies in their time of need.

We hear your voice cry out in the desert, and we will never leave your side. Because freedom and terrorism cannot coexist. Terrorism cannot be negotiated away or pacified. Terrorism will either destroy free nations, or free nations will destroy it. Freedom and terrorism will struggle — good and evil — until the battle is resolved. These are the terms Providence has put before the United States, Israel, and the rest of the civilized world.

Israel's liberation from Palestinian terror is an essential component of that victory. And it's a liberation we are determined to secure — not merely a paper-thin cease-fire.

That through domination of the weak, in the words of the serpent, "Ye shall be as gods."
Ladies and gentlemen, IT IS A LIE. It was a lie at Auschwitz. It was a lie in the Gulag. It was a lie behind the Iron Curtain. It was a lie in Kabul and Baghdad. And today, it remains a lie in Beijing, and Havana, and Tehran, and Pyongyang, and Damascus and Ramallah! But history has taught us, The Lie's grip on civilization is only as tight as civilization permits.

After September 11, 2001, OUR tolerance for The Lie is no more. As President Bush said: "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists." It's a battle between good and evil, between the Truth of liberty and The Lie of terror. There is no middle ground or moral equivalence; no "moderate" position worth taking.Appeasement is not an option! And so we fight: humbly, proudly, and together.

The common destiny of the United States and Israel is not an artificial alliance dictated by our leaders.It is a heartfelt friendship between the citizens of two democracies at war, bound by the solidarity of freedom.Brothers and sisters of Israel: "Be not afraid."

The American people stand with you, and so does our President. George W. Bush is a man of integrity and honesty. I assure you, you could not have a better friend than George W. Bush.He understands the fundamental truth that terrorism and freedom cannot coexist, and he has defined America's global mission in its terms.

But their enemy is not Israel, nor its people, nor its democratic government. Their enemy is Yasser Arafat.
Their enemy is Hamas, Hezbollah, and the vast network of violent men who threaten this region like so many desert scorpions. Leaders of these groups — "who sharpen their tongues like swords" — blame Israel for the blood they themselves draw and the squalor in which they themselves confine their people.

More blood may be spilled and more tears shed, but a future of freedom is certain.

May the God of Abraham continue to bless the United States, Israel, and each and every one of you.'
And in His name: Ahl teerah [Be not afraid]!"