[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 75 (Thursday, June 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CASTRO INSULTS JEWS WITH HIS RHETORIC

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                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 11, 1998

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, Fidel Castro is no friend of the Jewish 
community or the State of Israel.
  Castro's labeling of the U.S. policy as a measure akin to the Nazi 
Holocaust is demonstrative of his senseless rhetoric and glosses over 
the fact that prior to 1959 there was a vibrant Jewish community in 
Cuba, which has been largely destroyed by the Castro regime. Castro is 
no friend of the Jewish community or the State of Israel. Few remember 
his deployment of a Cuban brigade on the Syrian front in 1973--that was 
long ago, but even today, Castro continues to court Israel's declared 
enemies, including Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Iraqi leader Saddam 
Hussein and the Iranian regime in Tehran.
  I would like to include in the Congressional Record a letter by Frank 
Calzon, the Executive Director of the Center for a Free Cuba published 
in the Wall Street Journal on May 15, 1998 on this subject.

              [From the Wall Street Journal, May 15, 1998]

                 Castro Insults Jews With His Rhetoric

       The World-Wide column April 28 reported that Castro said 
     U.S. sanctions have been a ``holocaust'' for Cuba, ``and 
     urged war-crime trials of U.S. officials.'' Castro's 
     reference to the Holocaust is an example of his overheated 
     rhetoric and an insult to the Jewish people in Cuba and 
     elsewhere.
       The vibrant Cuban Jewish community numbered about 12,000 on 
     the eve of Castro's victory in 1959. There was no significant 
     anti-Semitism in Cuba. Instead, there were Jewish schools, 
     publications, radio programs and various clubs and 
     associations. After Castro destroyed Cuba's civil society, 
     Jewish institutions were confiscated. Not surprisingly, there 
     are less than 1,000 Jews remaining on the island.
       Castro's attitude toward Israel has been dismal. For many 
     years, he took the lead at the United Nations and elsewhere 
     in support of violent anti-Israeli groups. He supported 
     terrorists such as the notorious Carlos, who was involved in 
     the planning of terrorist acts against prominent European 
     Jews.
       Castro suffers from a simple case of psychological 
     projection. He sees his own behavior in others. Almost 40 
     years after he established a Marxist regime in Cuba, the 
     Cuban economy is as bankrupt as the communist economies were 
     in Europe.

     

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