[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S1408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONVEYING SADNESS, SYMPATHY, AND OUTRAGE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair. Mr. President, sometimes we speak 
on the floor of the Senate--Democrats and Republicans--not because we 
have an amendment to offer, not because it is our legislative agenda, 
but because we just cannot be silent and we feel that it is important 
as Senators, given the honor of being Senators, to speak about those 
issues and those peoples that we feel very strongly about.
  In today's New York Times, there is a picture that tells more than a 
thousand words:

       A friend of Sgt. Maya Kopstein, a 19-year-old victim of a 
     suicide bombing, mourned at her grave yesterday and held the 
     flag from her coffin.

  Mr. President, 19 Israelis were murdered in a Palestinian suicide 
bombing. All but one of these soldiers were barely old enough to vote.
  This one young woman over here in this picture, as I talked with a 
very close friend of mine--we become close with the staff we work 
with--my legislative director, Mike Epstein, said: ``Just look at her 
face, this young woman, young girl. It looks as if she's saying, `What 
kind of a world do I live in?'''
  Israelis murdered, ``* * * all but one of them soldiers barely old 
enough to vote.''
  I have three children, and my youngest is now 22. These were children 
who were murdered. I do not know when all this violence will stop, but 
I want to speak on the floor of the Senate today--and I did have a 
chance to also talk to the Israeli Ambassador--to convey not only my 
sadness and sympathy but also my outrage. I believe that this is a 
sentiment that I express for all Senators, and I send this to the 
people of Israel. I want them to know that all of us care fiercely 
about what has happened, that all of us, on both sides of the aisle, 
condemn murder.
  And, Mr. President, I today hope and pray--I use those words 
carefully but I think those words apply--I hope and pray that the 
Israelis, Palestinians, all of the peoples in the Middle East, find a 
way, first of all for security and protection, to stop this, and, 
second of all, a way to move forward--to move forward--with the peace 
process. There has to come a day when children are not murdering 
children. There has to come a day when this violence ends. There has to 
come a day of reconciliation.
  The sad thing is that the extremists have figured out the most 
effective way of trying to destroy this process. The extremists have 
figured out perhaps the most effective way of trying to make sure that 
there never will be peace. But my hope and my prayer today is for all 
of the families of all of these young people that have been murdered. 
My hope and prayer today is for the Israelis and the Palestinians, and 
for all the people in the Middle East--that there will be 
reconciliation. And as an American Senator and as an American Jewish 
Senator, I want to speak on the floor to express these sentiments. I 
want my country to be as helpful as possible, our Government to be as 
helpful as possible at this time. I want us to extend our friendship 
and our support to Israel. I never want any of us to turn our gaze away 
from this kind of outrageous slaughter of young people, of children.
  Murder, Mr. President, is never legitimate. Murder by anyone is never 
legitimate.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. GREGG. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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