The Capitol Hill launch event of the Congressional Israel Victory Caucus, April 27, 2017. Photo: Barney Breen-Portnoy.

The only hope for potential future peace in the Middle East is if Palestinians accept they have been defeated by the Jewish state, according to a new pro-Israel group that was launched on Thursday on Capitol Hill.

The Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC) is co-chaired by Republican Congressmen Ron DeSantis of Florida and Bill Johnson of Ohio. At CIVC’s opening event on Thursday — which was organized by the Middle East Forum think tank — Johnson said, “We founded this caucus primarily on one single, irrefutable principle — Israel has a fundamental right to exist and defend herself, and that is not negotiable.”

“Israel has been at war with its immediate neighbors over its right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people for nearly 70 years and we believe Israel has been victorious in this war and that this reality must be recognized in order for any peace to be achieved between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors,” Johnson continued.

In his remarks, DeSantis said, “Our goal here in Congress should be to stand with strong allies like Israel — not to force them to do this or that, but to stand with them and let them make decisions that benefit their own peace and security and economic advancement.”

Daniel Pipes — the president of the Middle East Forum – stated that the “alternative to endless negotiations which nobody believes in” was to “convince the Palestinians they have lost.”

“Wars end when one side gives up,” Pipes said. “Victory means imposing your will on your enemy so he no longer wants to continue fighting.”

“The key is the Israelis,” he continued. “I think we want to tell them, ‘Win your war.’ And then, once the war is won, once the Palestinians understand that if they’re upset with the Israelis, they send either a strongly-worded demarche or letter to the editor, then the war is over. When that happy day comes that the Jews in Hebron have no more fears for their security than the Arabs in Nazareth, we’ll know the war is over. When the war is over, then negotiations can begin. But until then, there should be no negotiations.”

A sister Knesset caucus to the CIVC is expected to be established this summer by Yisrael Beiteinu MK Oded Forer.

Thursday’s event was briefly interrupted by an anti-Israel Code Pink protester.

The @codepink protesters in the @meforum‘s #IsraelVictoryCaucus event lasted about 30 seconds in the room. Pretty sad. pic.twitter.com/pIXLZSE5et

— Raheem Kassam ?? (@RaheemKassam) April 27, 2017

A full video of Thursday’s event can be viewed below: