Following my service in the Army, I chose to volunteer alongside the Israel Defense Forces because our countries share the common ideals of freedom, democracy and mutual respect for all people.

With that said, I refuse to standby and do nothing while radical Islamic extremists - like Hamas - do everything in their power to reign terror on innocent people around the world. Hamas is responsible for the deaths of numerous Americans and Israelis. They preach the destruction of Israel and death to everything we hold dear in the United States.

The good news is that this week the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to pass my Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act to impose serious sanctions on anyone that assists Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or their affiliates.

These sanctions send a strong message: the United States will not tolerate anybody who supports these radical Islamic terrorists. Period.

In case you missed it, here are a few other things that happened this week:

• I released another #LakeOFactCheck to share the truth about discharges.
• I joined the KC Ingram Show to discuss all things water and managing Lake O.
• I helped write a piece for USA Today on the need to permanently end harmful, wasteful experiments on dogs at the VA.