[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 43 (Wednesday, April 17, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E563-E564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   STATEMENT OF CONGRESSWOMAN JANE HARMAN ON ISRAELI INDEPENDENCE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JANE HARMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 17, 2002

  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, today, Secretary of State Powell leaves the 
Middle East having failed to secure a cease-fire between Israel and the 
Palestinians, or make substantial progress toward peace. It was perhaps 
too much to hope for a dramatic breakthrough, but the status quo 
remains unacceptable.
  As we celebrate and commemorate Israeli Independence Day, it is more 
important than ever to remember why the United States has such a strong 
relationship with Israel.
  Fifty-four years ago, the creation of the state of Israel gave hope 
to Jews everywhere that safety, freedom, and justice could be found at 
last--in the ancient cradle of the Jewish faith and civilization. A 
half-century of friendship and cooperation between Israel and the 
United States began with President Truman's courageous recognition of 
Israel shortly after its establishment. Throughout many battles, our 
relationship has remained strong, and it continues today, with our 
common search for security and peace in the Middle East.
  Israel is now engaged in one of its most challenging wars ever, the 
war against terrorism. Since the latest Palestinian intifada began, 
more than 400 Israeli civilians have been killed by suicide bombers--
over 125 since March. Hundreds more have been injured in these 
attacks--attacks that are designed to strike at the heart of Israel 
itself.
  The Palestinians have also suffered hundreds of casualties, and 
innocent civilians, including children, are being used as human shields 
by terrorists hiding in refugee camps.
  Peace is the only way to move forward, a peace that contemplates two 
states coexisting side-by-side. But Israel can only achieve peace from 
a position of strength. I have long been an advocate for a strong US-
Israel security relationship. Now is not the time to back away from our 
security relationship or to give any credence to the misguided efforts 
of the European Union to impose economic sanctions against Israel.
  A critical contribution towards resolution of the current crisis must 
be taken by moderate Arab regimes--our allies such as Egypt and Saudi 
Arabia--to pressure the Palestinians to genuinely renounce terrorism. 
Chairman Arafat's recent statement deploring terrorist attacks--
delivered in English to an American--served no more purpose than to 
bring Secretary Powell to Ramallah. Far more revealing was a recent 
statement from Mr. Arafat's wife--in Arabic to the Arabic press--saying 
that she would be proud to have a future son become a suicide bomber.
  It has unfortunately been shown time and time again that the parties 
in the region will be unable to achieve peace on their own. All past 
breakthroughs for peace have been the result of US and international 
leadership and every future breakthrough will require the same. I 
commend the Administration for resuming a leadership role in the 
Mideast, and I urge it to remain engaged with the parties and moderate 
Arab states in the region.
  Last week, in a ceremony commemorating Yom ha-Shoah, National 
Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice made the connection between our 
remembrance of the Holocaust and our continued fight against evil in 
the war on terrorism. I would ask that her remarks be entered into the 
Record.
  May our memories of the horror of the Holocaust fuel our hunger for a 
permanent peace.

 Remarks by Condoleezza Rice, Assistant to the President for National 
  Security Affairs, at the 2002 National Commemoration of the Days of 
          Remembrance--U.S. Capitol Rotunda, Washington, D.C.

       As Prepared
       Survivors, liberators, Members of Congress, Members of the 
     Cabinet, Ambassador Ivry, other members of the diplomatic 
     corps, Benjamin Meed, Fred Zeidman, Elie Wiesel, Ruth Mandel, 
     other honored guests, ladies

[[Page E564]]

     and gentlemen: Thank you for inviting me to join you for Yom 
     ha-Shoah.
       We gather today to remember that evil is real and present 
     in our world. We gather to remember that hatred and bigotry 
     are always and everywhere wrong. We gather to remember that 
     the commission of monstrous sin requires not our consent, but 
     only our indifference, our neutrality, or our silence. We 
     gather to light six candles, so that we may never forget six 
     million acts of murder.
       With each passing year, the number of living Holocaust 
     survivors and liberators grows smaller. When all the 
     eyewitnesses are gone, the Holocaust's history will be taught 
     not from the searing pain of memory but from the pressing 
     call of conscience.
       Last year, when the President spoke here, the Holocaust 
     seemed somewhat removed from our era--part of a bloody 
     century now behind us. Sadly, this year we need no prompting 
     to appreciate the Holocaust's importance and its relevance. 
     Fanatical, unreasoning hatred has intruded upon our lives in 
     ways that no one could have imagined months ago.
       From the Holy Land, we see daily images of carnage, and 
     from Europe, come images of synagogues and Torah scrolls 
     burned. Our own land has seen the mass destruction of 
     innocents, guilty of nothing more than going to work in a 
     country called America on a beautiful, but terrible autumn 
     morning. And the world was sent obscene videotapes where evil 
     leaders celebrate the slaughter, and yet another tape where a 
     man is killed after being made to say the words, ``I am a 
     Jew.''
       This year, evil has spoken to all of us, and on this day we 
     need no reminder to answer back, but firmly: ``never again.''
       As our world prevails through these difficult days, and as 
     we pray for peace for all the children of Abraham, it is 
     important to recall not just the Holocaust's horrors, but 
     also its heroes: bearers of witness like Jan Karski; rescuers 
     like Wallenberg and Schindler; writers like Anne Frank and 
     Elie Wiesel; and resistors like the Danes and the righteous 
     of many nations who hid and saved many thousands of their 
     Jewish neighbors.
       And, of course, we recall those who fought from inside the 
     Warsaw Ghetto in April 1943, and who, as Elie Wiesel wrote, 
     lit a flame that ``continues to burn in our memory'' even 
     through the distance of six decades,
       We draw strength from these names--all familiar to our 
     lips--and we gain inspiration from their stories. Less often, 
     we think of the other heroes, the countless ordinary Jews, 
     Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, gay people, and disabled men and 
     women who defied the machinery of murder with quiet acts of 
     courage and piety. Their names are mostly unknown to all but 
     Him, yet their lives too instruct.
       I remember visiting Yad Vashem and seeing a photograph of a 
     handsomely dressed Jewish couple in the Warsaw Ghetto. The 
     guide at the museum said that people often express 
     consternation at the photograph, wondering how odd it was 
     that against the ghetto's backdrop of danger and desperation 
     this couple had obviously gone to great lengths to ensure 
     that their clothing and grooming were impeccable.
       I had a different reaction. I said immediately, ``I 
     understand that photograph. These people are saying, `I'm 
     still in control, I still have my dignity.' They are saying, 
     `You can take everything from us, including life itself. But 
     you cannot take away our pride.''
       I've often wondered what became of that couple. I imagine 
     that long after they were no longer able to control their 
     appearance they still found subtle ways to say, ``You cannot 
     control me, you cannot take away my pride and dignity.'' I've 
     wondered whether they were part of the uprising; whether they 
     perished in a camp; whether they were among the few who 
     survived; whether they may even have had children like Marek 
     Edelman or Bronislaw Geremek who survived and went on to 
     become members of Solidarity and leaders in a free and 
     democratic Poland.
       And I have thought about that couple from the ghetto even 
     more in the days since September 11. Because right now, all 
     of us are enduring a time of testing, loss, and fear; a time 
     when our vulnerability to evil and the certainty of our 
     mortality are all too clear; a time when once again our 
     intellect is insufficient to answer the question, ``Why?'' 
     And at these times more than ever, we are reminded that it is 
     a privilege to struggle for good against evil.
       We do not choose our circumstances or trials, but we do 
     choose how we respond to them. Too often when all is well, we 
     slip into the false joy and satisfaction of the material and 
     a complacent pride and faith in ourselves. Yet it is through 
     struggle that we find redemption and self-knowledge. This is 
     what the slaves of Exodus learned. And it is what slaves in 
     America meant when they sang: ``Nobody knows the trouble I've 
     seen, Glory Hallelujah!''
       None of our current travails approach those of the 
     Holocaust. The evil of the Holocaust is singular. Yet its 
     lessons are universal.
       So today, we remember that ignorance and cruelty are never 
     far away, and that their atrocities demand action and 
     justice.
       We remember that every life has value and all lives are 
     ennobled by opposing hate and bigotry.
       We remember that not even mankind's worst depravities can 
     be allowed to dissuade us from our search for worldly and 
     spiritual peace.
       In this nation of immigrants, surrounded here by the 
     symbols and totems of tolerance and freedom, we remember our 
     very great responsibility to protect freedom and to welcome 
     all of God's creatures into its loving embrace.
       And we remember the words of the Kaddish, ``Oseh shalom 
     beem'roh'mahv, hoo ya'aseh shalom, aleynu v'al kohl yisrae'el 
     v'eemru: Amein.''

     

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