[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 174 (Monday, November 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H11772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H 11772]]


      THE LOSS TO ISRAEL, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND THE WORLD WITH THE 
             ASSASSINATION OF PRIME MINISTER YITZHAK RABIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Roemer] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, it is with a great sense of personal sadness 
and political sadness that I rise today to talk about Israel's loss 
with the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the loss for 
the Middle East, and the loss for the world.
  As generations of Americans have talked with a great deal of sadness 
about the loss of our President, President Kennedy, and they talk about 
where they were when that event happened, and how it shook America to 
its foundations, I think many people will never forget where they were 
when they heard the news of this tragic murder of Prime Minister Rabin.
  I think it is tragic for many reasons. It is tragic because, at a 
time when so many people are critical about the political process, they 
complain about the vacuum of leadership in politics today, and the lack 
of courage in politics today. Here was a man that would never, he would 
never lick his finger and put it to the wind and say ``What should I do 
next?'' This man was a tornado, a wind tunnel who would create the 
winds of change, and try to convince and control and persuade the 
Israeli people that his attitudes about the peace process were the just 
ones and the right ones, and, we all know, the courageous ones.
  I have met Prime Minister Rabin three or four different times, one 
time just recently in Israel, when he talked at length about his 
efforts toward the peace process in the Middle East. Prime Minister 
Rabin, I do not think, would meet some Americans' definition of 
``charismatic.'' He was not particularly the backslapping type. He was 
not always the first one to tell you a joke. He had a charisma of 
toughness, of vision, of courage. He would smoke his cigarette and let 
the American Members of Congress know that nothing was going to deter 
him from his efforts to achieve an everlasting peace for the people of 
Israel and the people of the Middle East and the people of the world.
  I do not think many Americans or people anywhere in the world, for 
that matter, can forget the historic occasion of the handshake on the 
White House lawn a year and a half ago. I think everybody remembers 
with a great deal of pride as Americans that this took place in 
America, when Prime Minister Rabin and Mr. Arafat shook hands on the 
White House lawn, making all of us feel that almost anything was 
achievable; that if these two people could come to a peace and an 
understanding and a commitment to work together, certainly that was an 
inspiration to many Americans that we can do the same kinds of things; 
that anything is possible to all of us.
  Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that Mr. Rabin was a lawyer, a 
general in 1967, a warrior for victory in 1967 in a war that meant 
everything to the Israeli people. Over the decades he was a patriot for 
peace to his people, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. I want to 
express, on behalf of my constituents in northern Indiana, and maybe on 
behalf of some Members of the House of Representatives, as many Members 
are currently over in Israel right now, the deep sense of loss that 
Americans feel as Mr. Rabin leaves us.
  We extend our prayers and our thoughts and sympathies to Mr. Rabin's 
family, and also to the people of Israel, who are our good friends and 
who are going to be going through a very difficult time, not only by 
losing a Prime Minister through assassination, but in many ways, the 
State of Israel has lost a bit of its innocence with this very tragic 
act. We know that they can overcome this, and we know the people of 
Israel and the people of America will continue to work together in the 
efforts to sustain the legacy that Mr. Rabin leaves all of us: One of 
hope and commitment to work with other people, even your enemies, at 
times, and the hope and commitment to attain a just and everlasting 
peace.

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