Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement after hosting a meeting with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, along with U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

The statement by U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) follows:

“Today’s meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Mofaz was productive and wide ranging. The ongoing humanitarian disaster in Syria, political uncertainty in Egypt, violence in the Sinai directed at Israel, the status of peace talks with the Palestinians, the failure of the Moscow talks, and the need to impose crippling sanctions on Iran were raised during our discussion. In a neighborhood of instability, Israel remains the lone democracy and a beacon of stability.

“We talked about the sudden rocket fire from Gaza over these past 48 hours. The future of any success in Middle East peace negations dims with every rocket attack on innocent Israelis by Palestinian terrorists. The ongoing destructive and indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza further demonstrates that Congress was right to secure additional funding for the deployment of Iron Dome missile defense batteries. Iron Dome is a game changer, saving innocent lives and protecting Israelis.”

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