U.S. Senator Ted Cruz called out the Obama administration for failing to acknowledge American victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks as he chaired a hearing for the Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts on Wednesday.

During the hearing, titled “Justice Forsaken: How the Federal Government Fails the American Victims of Iranian and Palestinian Terrorism,” Cruz and Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) drew focus on the federal government’s failure to support the American victims of Iranian and Palestinian terror in their search for justice.

Two terror victims testified before the subcommittee as others were in attendance.

“The history of Palestinian and Iranian terrorism against Americans is extensive and continues to this day. Americans have long been the targets of Palestinian hijackings, suicide bombings, and assassinations, in part because of our nation’s close relationship and friendship with Israel,” Cruz said in his opening remarks. “In litigation, the Administration sides with the terrorist against American citizens, and when negotiating with the Ayatollah Khamenei, the Administration ignores American hostages languishing in Iranian prisons; it ignores the victims of terrorism… That is a national disgrace.”

“Sadly, even today, the killing still rages. This fall, Palestinian terror attacks in Israel have surged, in the form of stabbings, car-ramming, and shooting attacks. Terrorists have killed nearly a dozen persons, and wounded over 120–some of them Americans,” the Republican Senator and presidential candidates pointed out. “This hearing is designed to shine a light on the obligation of the government of the United States to stand with American citizens against terrorists who would murder innocent Americans.

Cruz also called the Iranian nuclear deal “the worst betrayal” of American terror victims.

Watch Cruz’s opening statement below: