[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 43 (Wednesday, April 17, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1401-H1408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Akin). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Speaker for recognizing me and
want to immediately recognize my friend from Florida (Mr. Deutsch). We
are doing this hour on a bipartisan basis tonight. The subject will
continue as it did the past hour on our support for Israel's right to
defend itself.
With that, let me yield to me friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Deutsch).
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, again, I appreciate this. I know in the
last hour several additional colleagues have joined us, and I look
forward to hearing from them over the next hour.
One colleague who has been very patient is one of the most
knowledgeable Members in the Congress on the Mideast, again someone who
has been active in Middle Eastern issues and concern far before he
entered the Congress, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner).
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Weiner).
Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida
and the gentleman from Georgia for once again organizing this.
There is a period of time between the commemoration of the
anniversary of
[[Page H1402]]
the Holocaust and this period where we commemorate this evening the
birth of the State of Israel, and those two things, of course, are
inextricably linked. We have heard over the course of the last hour an
extraordinarily well-detailed, particularly by my friend from New
Jersey, a detailed history of the last 44 years.
I would like to spend just a moment talking about some of the ways
we, in our rush for the 24-hour news cycle, our rush to try to
understand things in 2-minute blurbs, have drawn many of the wrong
conclusions about events going on today in the Middle East.
One of the things that is frequently pointed to as a source of the
problem that we currently face in the Middle East, people have pointed
to the current leadership of Israel, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister,
and said it is his intransigence that has led to the explosion of
violence.
Well, to say that ignores the fact that in fact this intifada began
shortly after Camp David II, on September 29, 2000, a good 4 months
before Sharon would even take office. Prime Minister Barak, the person
who was at Camp David who had made the extraordinary concessions that
we have heard about this evening, it was he, perhaps the most flexible,
some in Israel almost say too flexible, leader of Israel, that was in
power at the time that this explosion of violence began.
Second of all, the notion that Ariel Sharon's government and the
people of Israel are not willing to enter into an agreement to end the
violence is not true. The Mitchell Plan, which was a very long period
of time headed up by former Senator Mitchell, included very difficult
concessions for Israel, including things such as they had to withdraw
from settlements.
Israel has accepted it. It is the Palestinians that have said they
will not. Why will they not? Because the first element of the Mitchell
Plan is there has to be a cessation of violence and then a cooling off
period, a reasonable first step toward any peace plan. It is the
Palestinians that have rejected it.
Then came the Tenet Plan, where the CIA Director went there to try to
negotiate steps again to cool down the violence. It was Israel who said
we will agree to the Tenet Plan. We will agree to loosen up the
restrictions at the border crossings, to allow commerce to move more
freely, if the Palestinians agree to stop the terrorism. Again, it was
Israel who accepted and it was the Palestinians who said no.
So this idea that the present Government of Israel has been
inflexible, intransigent, and that is what has led to the violence, is
simply not.
Second of all, there have been some terrible images on television
about the events that have gone on in the Middle East and the efforts
by the Israelis to crack down on terrorism.
I would say at the outset, Mr. Speaker, no war is civilized. Whenever
you are engaged in a war, it is going to produce some unwanted
fatalities; it is going to produce some images that are most troubling,
particularly to those of us in a peace-loving nation.
But unlike the way other wars have been prosecuted, unlike the way
we, for example, in Afghanistan waged the war at Tora Bora, from the
safety of the skies, if you look at how the Russians waged war against
Grozny, where there is not even a single building left standing in
Grozny now, Israel made a different and arguably the most compassionate
decision they could that they were going to go into places like
Ramallah, go door by door, house by house, looking for people who had
made it their business to go into discoteques and to go into Passover
seders with human bombs laced with nails and ball bearings and blow
innocent civilians up.
And what has been the result? Some people say why Ramallah? What is
it about that town that has made it the subject of these house-by-house
searches?
There have been 35 terrorist attacks originating from that city alone
in the last 18 months; 417 Tanzim, all elements of the Fatah movement
controlled by Yasser Arafat, these are the people he has on the speed
dial of his phone, have been operating out of Ramallah.
This is a place where two IDF reserve soldiers in October of 2000 who
accidently took a wrong turn, and, just so you understand, these are
reserve soldiers, these are 18- and 19-year-old boys, who were serving
their mandatory service in the military, took a wrong turn and were
lynched and hung from a Ramallah police station that Israeli dollars
paid to build.
All of these things went oncoming from Ramallah. The Jerusalem cafe
attack that killed 11 people and wounded 50 took place in Ramallah.
Well, door to door the Israelis have been going, trying to find those
that would do harm to their people.
I would read a quote from Secretary Rumsfeld talking about the
necessity to sometimes go and get terrorists before they come and get
your people. This is what he said on February 4, 2002:
``We have no choice. It is physically impossible to defend at every
time, in every location, against every conceivable technique of
terrorism. Therefore, if your goal is to stop terrorism, you cannot
stop it just by defense. You can only stop it by taking the battle to
the terrorists where they are and going after them.''
I would argue, Mr. Speaker, that it is the Israelis that are the
foremost practitioners today of that, the Bush Doctrine.
Finally, there have been perhaps some very troubling images of
violence taking place around the Church of the Nativity, the birthplace
of Jesus Christ. I have to say something very honestly. If there were
Israelis inside that church surrounded by Palestinian suicide bombers,
there would not be a moment of hesitation on the part of the
Palestinians to go in, regardless of the destruction to the church.
Not the case with the Israelis. And if you question what I say,
Joseph's Tomb, a historic and important monument of the Jewish people,
destroyed in October of 2000. An ancient synagogue in Jericho, torn to
the ground also in October of 2000. You did not hear the type of
protestations we hear now.
Yet what are the Israelis doing? Day in, day out, soldiers, sometimes
in the pouring rain, encircling the Church of the Nativity, trying not
to do any harm to that location. In the meantime, the terrorist are
within. The Israelis are waiting, and they are going to continue to
wait until they emerge.
Finally, let me conclude the way I began, and I thank the gentleman
from Georgia and the gentleman from Florida once again. There is a
inextricable link between the history of Israel, the history of the
Jewish people, and their birth as a state.
On Saturday, April 13 in the New York Times, a gentleman named Daniel
Gordis wrote about what it is like to live in Israel right now and what
it is like to be celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut, which is the Hebrew word
for the commemoration of the birth of Israel, and Yom HaShoah, which is
the commemoration of the HaShoah.
{time} 2045
And he concludes his article, and I would like to quote, and I will
insert the entire article in the Record. ``On Tuesday night, my 12-
year-old son, Avi, told me about a Yom Hashoah class discussion about
whether the Holocaust could happen again, a session he said he found
stupid. Why, I asked? Because, we have a strong Army, he answered.
America is our friend, and look out there now. We take care of
ourselves.''
``The next morning I watched him head off on his bike to school with
pride, security and confidence. That is a lot more than Jewish kids in
Europe had a few decades ago, a lot more than some Jewish kids have in
Europe this week. That is why we need this country. That is why we will
fight to keep it.''
[From the New York Times, Apr. 13, 2002]
Needing Israel
(By Daniel Gordis)
Tuesday was Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, an
agonizing day. In the afternoon, at work, we gathered in a
circle while some colleagues quietly read the names of
relatives who had been exterminated by the Nazis. Some had
long lists; one even brought pictures. During the ceremony,
word spread that a group of Israeli Defense Force soldiers--
13, it would turn out--had been killed in an ambush in Jenin.
Another, in Nablus, fell to friendly fire.
It is hard to describe what 14 soldiers means in this small
country. People make frantic calls to find out where their
husbands and fathers are. Then the hourly news announces to
the entire country the location
[[Page H1403]]
and time of each funeral. At such moments it feels that
living here makes one part of an extended family. No one in
that family wants this war. But very few people here think we
can do without it. Israelis understand why we're fighting. We
also know why our soldiers are dying. There are significant
pockets of armed resistance in the Jenin camp, but there are
also lots of civilians. So we can't just bomb from the skies.
We send soldiers house to house, only to watch as Hamas
fighters use those same civilians as shields. On Tuesday we
paid a heavy price.
We had 14 funerals because we won't fight this war the way
the Russians fought in Grozny or the way the United States
fought in Afghanistan--from the safety of the skies. Hardly a
building in Grozny was spared in the bombing; the Russians
knew the price they'd pay if they tried to fight on the
street. If Israel hit a hospital from the skies the way that
the Americans did not too long ago in Afghanistan, just
imagine the world's reaction.
Palestinians say we won't let their ambulances in Jenin.
Yet two weeks ago Israeli soldiers stopped a Palestinian
ambulance with a child in the back on a stretcher, and under
him soldiers found an explosive belt. Palestinians say that
we're not letting them clear their dead from the streets. The
Israeli Army claims that's a lie, that the Palestinians are
leaving the bodies there intentionally for good footage on
CNN. Who's telling the truth? I don't know.
Last week, when the siege around the Church of the Nativity
began, many Israelis understood why we couldn't just shoot
our way in, but the frustration was palpable. If it had been
Israelis in a church, or a synagogue, and Palestinians on the
outside, how long would the siege have lasted? Everyone here
knows the answer. When the Palestinians burned down the
synagogue at Joseph's tomb in October 2000, the Vatican
didn't speak up. When they later destroyed an ancient
synagogue near Jericho, European liberals didn't lose sleep.
The siege outside the church began in foul weather.
According to reports on Israeli radio, some soldiers stood
for hours in the driving rain, making sure that none of the
armed Palestinians inside would escape. All that afternoon,
the residents of Bethlehem pointed at the rain and shouted:
``Get out of here. We hate you. The world hates you. And
look, even the heavens hate you.''
Maybe the world does hate us for having the audacity to
protect ourselves, for meaning it when we say ``never
again.'' Maybe the world is secretly delighted that no war
can be made to look civilized, so the Europeans and the
Palestinians can point their fingers at us and say, ``See,
they do it, too.'' Then maybe what they did won't seem so
horrific, so unforgivable.
One thing important to Jews is remembering. We won't forget
the 20th century and the world's complicity, and when we
recall this week, in which we buried 14 of our sons,
brothers, husbands and fathers who didn't have to die except
for our decision to do this fighting the hard way, we'll
remember the world's double standard.
On Tuesday night, my 12-year-old son, Avi, told me about a
Yom Hashoah class discussion about whether the Holocaust
could happen again--a session he said he found ``stupid.''
Why? I asked. ``Because we have a strong army,'' he answered,
``America is our friend, and look out there now--we take care
of ourselves.''
The next morning I watched him head off on his bike to
school, with pride, security and confidence. That's a lot
more than Jewish kids in Europe had a few decades ago. It's a
lot more than some Jewish kids have in Europe this week. It's
why we need this country. And it's why we'll fight to keep
it.
``We have no choice. . . . It is physically impossible to
defend at every time in every location against every
conceivable technique of terrorism. Therefore, if your goal
is to stop [terrorism], you cannot stop it just by defense.
You can only stop it by taking the battle to the terrorists
where they are and going after them.''--U.S. Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld, February 4, 2002.
Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, in this great House, we have always stood
shoulder to shoulder from all parts of this country, Democrat and
Republican alike, strongly allied with the democracy in the Middle
East, Israel, and with God's good graces, I hope we stand with her for
at least another 44 years.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I know I had chills up my spine as the
gentleman was speaking, he spoke so forcefully on the issue.
I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia, but knowing that he is
going to introduce the gentleman from Florida, I would say of the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), I think he stands almost
alone in this Chamber, but clearly in a unique position, as someone who
is incredibly insightful about world events and incredibly insightful
about the evil that exists in the world, incredibly insightful about
what can be done to fight that evil, and, in fact, has unfortunate
personal knowledge of it because of his background and his family's
background. He has traveled to Israel with me on at least 1 occasion,
and I have seen his personal involvement, his personal connection to
the struggle of the people of Israel. I am just very proud that he is
with us this evening on this Special Order.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with those comments. The
gentleman from Florida has been a true human rights leader, not just
for his part of the globe, but for the entire world.
Before I yield the floor to him, though, I wanted to say something
about what the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) was saying in terms
of the little boy on the bicycle leaving with pride that Israelis could
defend themselves and having so much more spirit than maybe generations
before him on another continent.
When I was in Jerusalem several years ago going through the Holocaust
Museum, certainly, one cannot go through a Holocaust Museum without
having some emotional twisting in your stomach, in your heart, and just
kind of a cascade of different thoughts go through your mind, but one
of the more optimistic things that I saw was actually at the end of the
Museum, there were some soldiers who were going through the museum.
It happened that most of these soldiers were Israeli soldiers who
were women. As the gentleman from Florida knows, they are armed most of
the time, and it is almost a militia in that everybody is in the Army
at some point in their lives. These young women were walking around in
the museum, very casually, very focused on the museum, yet they all had
strapped to them M-16s. I thought, that is a very symbolic message for
anybody going through the museum, that it is the intention of modern
day Israel to never let that sort of thing happen to them again.
So as we as America look at the things in the Middle East, perhaps we
do not appreciate the fervency which the Israelis have in terms of
fighting for their independence here on Independence Day of their
continued statehood because they have been through so much to get
there. They cannot retreat at this point. I wanted to make that point
based on what the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) had said.
Now, having taken up some of the time of the gentleman from Florida
(Mr. Diaz-Balart), I wanted to ask the gentleman to do something that
he never does here, and that is to tell us a little bit about his
personal past. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch) has touched on
it, but I think that it qualifies the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-
Balart) to speak on the subject based on the gentleman's family
situation. If the gentleman does not mind revealing some of that to us,
I think it would be very helpful.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia, and
also my good friend from south Florida. It is a privilege for me, and I
consider it a true honor, to be here this evening in solidarity with
Israel.
I have been an admirer for many years of the Jewish people. The
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) pointed out and talked a little
bit about my background. My family had to leave the country that I was
born in, Cuba, where I am in the fourth generation of, in this
instance, Cuban American, fourth generation in our family of public
service which began in Cuba when my great grandfather and his brothers
began fighting for independence there. And then my grandfather, after
independence, became a lawyer. He was a country lawyer in eastern Cuba
and was the lawyer for the Jewish community in Banas, in eastern Cuba.
There was a very vibrant Jewish community in Cuba before the arrival
of communism, a very vibrant, growing, prosperous, hard-working,
honorable Jewish community in Cuba. Many of them are in south Florida
today, and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch) and I have the
privilege of knowing them and working with them and really the honor of
their friendship.
What always amazed me about the Jewish people, having lost the
country of my birth to totalitarianism, and having lived and seen my
country of birth live through 43 years of totalitarianism, and as a
child, having been in exile, a refugee from that totalitarianism, and
having seen what 43 years means in the life of human beings; 43 years
in the life of a human being, in the life of a family, are many years.
[[Page H1404]]
Obviously, in the life of a people, 43 years are but a point of
reference. But having seen that the Jewish people were forced out of
their homeland and that somehow, due to an extraordinary and admirable
love of their country and their nationality and their families and
their traditions and their origins and their customs and their
religion, and much faith and, above all else, perseverance,
perseverance, the Jewish people managed to remain a people, to survive
during 1,800 years of exile, and then to finally, after 1,800 years of
exile, to be able to return to their homeland and establish a modern-
day nation state, that is something that I have always been in awe of
and I admire deeply.
So tonight, we stand here in this great Congress saluting the people
of Israel on the 54th anniversary of the establishment of their
modernization State after 1,800 years of exile. And after the 1,800
years of exile, when the Jewish people were able to return to their
homeland and establish the modern State of Israel, the reality of the
matter is that there has been too much violence and war and suffering
and pain that the Jewish people have had to suffer, and we see it to
this day.
So this evening, not only do I consider it an honor to be here
saluting and a privilege to be here saluting Israel because of and in
commemoration of her 54th anniversary as a modernization State, but
also I stand tonight in solidarity with the Jewish people, their right
to live freely, their right to live as an independent, sovereign,
democratic state, and their right to live in peace. So my hopes and my
prayers go out to the Jewish people with a fervent wish for peace and
also with a fervent statement of solidarity and support.
One of the reasons why I have found it such an honor to be a Member
of this Congress for the last 10 years is that one of the issues that
join us, one of the issues that unite us, whether we are Republicans or
Democrats or conservatives or liberals, is our support for that friend
of the United States, that democracy in the Middle East that is facing
so many challenges, perhaps more challenges now than ever before, in
some ways. So I respect the decisions of the sovereign democratic state
of Israel. I, as a Member of this Congress, support and will continue
to support Israel, and that, above all else, obviously in addition to
my expression of solidarity and admiration for the Jewish people and
for Israel, is what I wanted to do this evening.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, we thank the gentleman for sharing that
very personal, very, very credible testimony.
Mr. Speaker, our next speaker is a gentleman, and we have had a good
mix of people tonight. We have had Jewish, Christian, Democrats,
Republicans; we have had Members that are Cuban Americans originally,
and now we have a gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), who actually
represents a district that does not have a single synagogue in it, and
yet he stands 100 percent behind Israel's right to defend herself. I
think it is just important that as we look at this, there are a lot of
other Members in this 435-person body who have the same sentiments that
those of us who have been here tonight have been expressing, and yet,
for one reason or another, they are not with us tonight physically, but
they certainly are with us in spirit. It is a great representative
sampling.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I would point
out that we literally, across the country, we have had Members
throughout America today speak from the heart about what their
connection and their hopes and their prayers are this evening.
Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I
thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) and the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Deutsch) for putting this Special Order together.
As the gentleman from Georgia shared, I am a Christian, a
conservative, and a Republican, in that order. My faith trumps my
philosophy, and my philosophy trumps my partisanship, and it is from my
faith and from my philosophy, as it is I believe for many Christian
Americans, that I believe a passion to this issue. Not just during the
present impasse have I been an advocate for Israel, but for many, many
years in and out of public life in central Indiana, I have, Mr.
Speaker, been an advocate of the dream that is Israel.
{time} 2100
And it is a dream. I scarcely let a day go by that I do not pray for
the peace of Jerusalem. I pray for security within her citadels, not
just for the Jewish people there, but for the people of every race and
every creed who convene there.
But when I say that Israel is a dream, I do not say that lightly, Mr.
Speaker. Today, if I am pronouncing it right, we celebrate Israel's
Independence Day, Yom HaAtzmaut. It is the 54th anniversary of an
extraordinary occasion in human history.
It was an occasion when, while it was done under the rubric of the
United Nations and under the color of international understandings, let
there be no mistaking it, the people of the United States of America,
by their beneficence and good will toward a people, 6 million of whom
had been slaughtered by the Nazis in Central Europe, chose to use their
power in the world to replace this displaced people in their historic
homeland.
Never before, Mr. Speaker, does history record an occasion where a
nation was born in a day until, in 1948, Israel, largely through the
generosity of the people of the United States of America, was born. And
it was in every sense a dream. It was a dream, as the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), just shared, a dream of some 1,800 years of
a people that never gave up on a vision, that never gave up on the idea
of returning home.
So as we think of the reasons why the United States of America should
stand with Israel, Mr. Speaker, it begins with the fact that America
established Israel in 1948 in her homeland. More than any other Nation,
she is our ally. She is our friend in so many ways. We are the mentor,
she is the mentee.
We entered into a partnership with Israel in 1948 which, Mr. Speaker,
at the risk of becoming passionate and emotional, a partnership that
could never be described as America becoming an honest broker, sliding
to the middle of the table. From 1948 forward, America had one place at
the table, and it was standing like a protector and a provider over the
right shoulder of Israel.
So we stand with her because we were there in the beginning. We stand
with her because she is our ally. But we also stand with Israel today
because she is in trouble. She is beleaguered. Eighteen months of
random violence since the Intifada began in the year 2000, and 400
citizens killed, thousands injured, millions distressed. Israel is
ground zero in the war on terrorism. What better time to define the
metes and bounds of our relationship and our alliance than when our
friend is in her darkest hour?
I have been grieved, Mr. Speaker, by the ambiguity of U.S. policy,
particularly during recent days. It seems to me America should stand,
as we do, astride the world as the lone superpower, with our arms
quietly folded, with a tear in our eye for the suffering of all of the
people of the region, but we should stand quietly while our friend does
what needs to be done to end the murdering in their own streets.
So America should stand with Israel because she is our ally from her
beginning, and because she is distressed; also, because she is the only
democracy in the Middle East. I have this idea, Mr. Speaker, that the
people of the Middle East, as Prince Hassan of Jordan describes it, the
people who live in the arc of crisis from India to the West Coast of
Africa, are a people capable of democracy and self-government and civil
liberties.
I believe in that dream. And Israel, as she did in 1948, rose out of
the dust of the Middle East and established that the dream of democracy
born on our shores in 1776 is not an American dream, it is a dream of
all peoples of the world. With this, I close and yield back to more
eloquent colleagues.
As I said in the beginning, Mr. Speaker, I come from a Christian and
a conservative perspective, and I believe that our administration and
the leaders of our government would do well to reflect, yes, on the
passion of elected leaders from the Jewish community at all levels of
government in America, but let them also reflect on the people
[[Page H1405]]
of Christian faith in America who cherish the dream of Israel, as the
Bible says, as the apple of God's eye.
Because I believe it was from the hearts of people in the heartland
of America, places like the little buckboard churches that dot the
landscape of my eastern Indiana district, it is the people that fill up
those churches on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night
who give me, as I travel my district, time after time standing ovations
when I say America must have one position, and that is to stand with
Israel, unambiguously.
And it is those people who believe in that simple principle, that
part of our prosperity, part of our own destiny, is tied up in the
belief that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, whoever curses
Israel will be cursed. Let it ever be that our government expresses the
love that believing Christian Americans have for Israel, that believing
Jewish Americans have for Israel. Let this American government always
stand for that dream and that passion.
Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman for those passionate, very good,
very clear words and that good message. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch).
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. This
has been an evening where we have tried to elaborate on a couple of
different themes.
From a historical perspective, this is Israel's Independence Day, but
also we try to share information, both with those viewing and with
other colleagues.
I think one of the questions which is a basic question is why are the
Israelis presently making incursions into towns like Ramallah and
Bethlehem and Nablus and Jenin.
I think one of the things, and I put this map back up just, again, to
give a perspective which many, or in fact most, Americans have, but it
is a perspective to think about, that the entire state of Israel is
about the size of New Jersey. In fact, my congressional district, the
northern border of my district is the Palm Beach County of Florida; the
southern border of my district is Key West, Florida. In fact, the
length of my district is longer than the length of the state of Israel.
The reason I mention that is just the size. If people have been to
Israel, and especially for the first time, the thing that I think is so
striking, besides the incredible sense that history is reality, that we
can be on the steps Jesus walked on, or we can see the wall of the
temple, or we can see the city of Jericho, and look out where Moses was
not able to enter the promised land but actually see the mountains,
besides the historical reality of the sites of the country is the size
of the country.
People talk about neighborhoods like Ilo or Pisgot sev as if they are
far away. They are Jerusalem. Those are neighborhoods that are being
shot at. Just the country itself, the area between Natana and the West
Bank is 12 miles. Twelve miles in my district would be the equivalent
of from the city of Fort Lauderdale to north Miami Beach, from Fort
Lauderdale to Dade, distances which people of south Florida can
appreciate how small they are.
But again, why did Israel make those incursions? They made those
incursions really because of the chart on the left, and also I am going
to change charts and add an additional chart which we had showed
earlier. What Israel's people had suffered, not just over the last 18
months but disproportionately over the last several months, is hard for
us to comprehend the level, again, based on the size of the country.
One of the phenomena of 9/11, the attack on the World Trade Center,
the Pentagon, and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, is most
Americans in a sense were not just affected, but directly affected.
Most of us know someone personally that had a tragedy that occurred,
and we have seen it. We have literally felt it.
It is hard for us to contemplate what it would mean, again, with the
comparable numbers of seven 9/11's in America, literally seven 9/11's,
almost on a daily basis not being able to go to the grocery store or to
have a celebration, a bar mitzvah or a wedding without an incredible
concern of a violent attack.
The suffering, the direct acts of terrorism that Israel had been
facing, were unprecedented for any nation, for any nation. And can we
expect any nation to do nothing?
In the previous special order, I talked about two watershed events
that occurred as recently as 3 months ago, 12 weeks ago. One was the
Karine-A, the ship that the Israeli commandoes commandeered, and it had
over $20 million of sophisticated weapons from Iran that the
Palestinian Authority bought.
Now, originally, Chairman Arafat denied any involvement with that
ship. His only plausible deniability, in a sense, was he was not on the
ship. But let me be specific. It has been discussed in the public
domain at this point.
Both the Americans and the Israelis had direct knowledge of Chairman
Arafat's personal involvement in the purchase of those weapons. Again,
as has been discussed in the public domain, Colin Powell called up
Chairman Arafat and said to him, why did you do this? These weapons
were not rifles, they were mortars, sophisticated mortars,
sophisticated weapons. We have seen pictures of them and a listing of
those weapons.
Chairman Arafat's response to Colin Powell was, what weapons? What
ship? I had nothing to do with it. But again, as I said, in the public
domains, the Israelis and the Americans were aware of what occurred.
Colin Powell said to him, we are going to show you the evidence. The
evidence was presented to him. Yet, he then still said, what
involvement? What ship?
If we think about that, how could we expect to have any negotiations,
any relationship, any prospect for a final status with someone who
outright lies to us when we know that that person is lying? That is
number one.
The second incident over the last 12 weeks, which was really a
watershed incident, was a sniper attack on the Israelis at a
checkpoint, the Israeli soldiers. About six Israel soldiers were killed
in a matter of a couple of minutes.
For anybody who has been in Israel, or just again, the map of the
small size of Israel, once that occurred, those sniper attacks, those
sniper rifles could shoot several miles, so with a line of sight in the
building we are in now, if someone was on the roof of this building
with a sniper rifle, they could shoot literally, God forbid, someone
standing in the driveway of the White House over a mile away.
Now, once that occurred and no one was trying to prevent that, after
those incidents occurred, the Israeli government decided to go into
some of these communities and literally go house to house and wall-to-
wall to do what no one else was trying to do: to stop the terrorism
that was affecting their people and killing their people on almost a
daily basis. That is exactly what the Israelis were doing; no less, no
more than America did and America must do in response to the attack on
us on 9/11.
I think that is what the previous speaker talked about, the ambiguity
issue. There is united 100 percent support in the United States of
America for President Bush's efforts on the war on terrorism, for the
efforts of the American men and women who are fighting that war in
Afghanistan. And we are 100 percent, there is no daylight between any
of the 435 Members of this Chamber on that issue, because we understand
and we agree completely with the President's assessment of that threat
to America, and we agree with the assessment of the threat to America
from Iraq and from Syria, from North Korea, in terms of terrorism and
weapons of mass destruction.
We will do everything we can as a society and as a nation to prevent
those things from happening. We will do anything. I think those people
understand that, because we have shown that we will do anything.
{time} 2115
There is no question that what is happening in Israel is a level of
terrorism unprecedented for a country. Can we expect the Israelis to do
anything less than us? Can we expect them to do anything? Can we ask
them to do anything less than us? If anything, what we should be doing
is praising them for those efforts, supporting them for those efforts
because those acts of terrorism must end.
Those acts of terrorism, again, I think as has been pointed out by my
colleagues, are not just acts of terrorism against Israel. Make no
mistake about it. Those acts of terrorism are not just acts of
terrorism against
[[Page H1406]]
Israel. They are acts of terrorism against the United States of
America, and when a bomb goes off in an Israeli pizzeria, an Israeli
cafe, an Israeli banquet hall, the perpetrators of that action are as
much trying to kill civilians in Israel as they are trying to destroy
the United States of America, and what our actions should be as a
society and as a country should be to prevent that from happening
because if we do not prevent it there, I think unfortunately it is only
a matter of time till it comes here.
So we are brothers and sisters with the people of Israel in this
area. We are fighting together this war of terrorism, and we should not
be trying to stop it. We should be trying to help it for it to come to
a successful conclusion.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Rothman).
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I want to build on what my colleagues have been talking about for the
last several minutes. When the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch)
mentioned that there were the equivalent of seven September 11's in
Israel in the last 18 months, that is true, but it would be seven
September 11's, not in a country as big as America, but in a land and a
State the size of New Jersey, seven September 11's, God forbid, within
the size of the State of New Jersey.
By the way, just to remind everybody, look at how the sliver that
Israel is along the Mediterranean. When we compare it with Egypt and
Jordan and Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Iran, all over here, Israel's
infinitesimal. Syria, Turkey, a sliver.
For the last 54 years, Israel has been America's number one ally in a
very hostile region. More importantly, Israel has been America's number
one ally in an extraordinarily strategic region for the United States.
As I said and as has been referred to before, Israel is America's
battleship of democracy in a sea of totalitarians, dictators and
murderous thugs. Saddam Hussein, Syrian dictator, the mullahs, the
religious councils in Iran who overrule their own democracy, the
slaughter that goes on by Lebanon which is now occupied by 45,000
Syrian troops. The world does not say a peep.
Does America's best friend for the last 54 years, Israel, by the way,
who has the best voting record at the United Nations in support of the
United States than any country in the Middle East and all of Europe,
America's best friend, state of Israel, do they ask America to go fight
Israel's battle? Have they asked for a single American soldier? No,
they never have.
They did not in 1948 when all the surrounding armies invaded Israel.
They did not in 1967 when all the surrounding Arab armies invaded
Israel, saying to their people we are going to drive the Jews into the
sea. They did not in 1973 when all the surrounding armies invaded
Israel, and they have not asked for it now, despite the seven 9/11s of
terrorism in the last 18 months alone.
Israel does not want special treatment. Israel wants to be considered
like all the other Nations of the world which it is. It certainly has
all the legitimacy of any other nation in the Middle East. Israel,
recognized by the United Nations in 1948, all the major countries of
the world agreeing, the Jewish state shall live. As they agreed Saudi
Arabia should live in 1932, as Jordan should be created in 1946, as
they said that Egypt should be recognized in 1922, as Syria recognized
in 1946, as Iraq recognized in 1923, Iran recognized in 1925 and
Lebanon recognized in 1943, so too Israel should be and was recognized
in 1948.
So Israel's no youngster. It is celebrating its 54th birthday. What
is left? Why is there still violence?
Well, the Palestinian people and their leaders, ever since 1947, when
they were offered half of the State of Israel, with the Jews having the
other half in 1947, a two-state solution offered by the United Nations
under U.N. Resolution 181, in 1947, they were offered half of Israel.
They rejected it, as they rejected Israel's offer of a two-state
solution in 1967, as they rejected the offer of Israel for a two-state
solution in the year 2000 at Camp David.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I have Mr. Deutsch's
chart of some time, and what I thought I would do since it ties in with
what my colleague is saying, I was going to go down some of these
dates.
Mr. ROTHMAN. That would be great, if I could finish my line of
thought.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, what I would like the gentleman to do is
as I call these out, maybe underscore and give some of his knowledge.
Mr. ROTHMAN. That is kind of the gentleman to say. I am going to
finish my point, which is it breaks my heart, breaks the Israeli's
people's heart. It would break any person's heart who has any shred of
decency that the Palestinian leadership has turned down statehood for
themselves and their people since 1947, offered it in 1947, 1967, and
2000. Does not it break my colleague's heart, that they condemn their
own men, women and children to live in statelessness because they do
not want to live next to the Jewish state recognized by the U.N.,
albeit the tiny little Jewish state in a sea of Arab Nations, Muslim
Nations and Persian Nations?
Breaks my heart and so we plead for the Palestinians to get
themselves a leadership that will, as Egypt did and as Jordan did, say
they will live in peace with the Israelis for good, as their neighbor
and they will have their own state and peace, accept as their own state
that has been offered since 1947, as we say take yes for an answer. The
Palestinians will never drive America's best friend Israel, will never
drive the Jewish state into the sea, never.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and I wanted to,
having grabbed the gentleman from Florida's (Mr. Deutsch) chart a
second ago, I wanted to go ahead and resubmit this for the Record. As
maybe as I will read some of these key dates, anything the gentleman
wants to add, I will go slowly, but I thought it would be good if we
had it on the comments the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman) was
making.
The history of Israel, 1917, the Balfour declaration.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, that is when England said after World War
I, we want to, just as we are giving Arabia to the Saud family and we
are giving Jordan to the Hussein family and creating all these
countries, we think there should be a Jewish homeland in this area of
the world, which the British owned by virtue of getting it as in the
spoils of war after World War I, taking it from the Turks.
Mr. DEUTSCH. If I can just add, I think one of the important things
to note from an historical basis is that at no time during that 1,800-
year exodus was there not a Jewish presence in the area of Palestine or
what has become the modern state of Israel.
Mr. KINGSTON. That is good to point out. 1922, the British divide the
mandate of Palestine.
1947, the U.N. passes Resolution 181, the partition plan.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, that is what we were just talking about,
the 1947 partition plan that the Palestinians and the Arab world
rejected when Israel would have been divided in half, half Palestinian,
half Jewish, with Jerusalem as an international city. They rejected it.
They thought they would just drive the Jews in the sea and have it all.
Mr. KINGSTON. The 1948, Ben Gurion declares Israeli independence,
five surrounding Arab nations attack.
1956, the Sinai campaign.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, by the way, the Sinai campaign refers to
the fact that in 1967, the surrounding Arab nations went to war with
Israel again.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I would
appreciate it.
This is a copy of a letter that the Israeli troops in some of the
locations the Palestinian Authority uncovered arjons. These are people
who are saying these are not accurate documents. I think that is hard
to believe and not credible at all in terms of where they have been
found and the authenticity of them. In fact, this particular one I do
not think is even being challenged at this point in time.
The reason I think it is significant, tied directly into the comments
just being made about 1947 is what is Chairman Arafat's goal or the
goal of the Palestinian authority. Is it peace with Israel or the
eradication of Israel? I think why this particular letter is so
[[Page H1407]]
significant is that it is a letter to the Arabs who live in Israel.
Israel is a Jewish state but has a significant population of nonJews
who are treated as equal citizens with equal rights, but what is
significant is that this is a letter to the Arabs who live in Israel
that was circulated amongst the group in Israel, literally calling for
a war, a violent war within Israel proper today, not in the West Bank,
not in Gaza.
So I think that from the perspective of the Israelis and I think the
real question, this is concrete specific, in Arabic to Arabs, what
Chairman Arafat's goals are, not an independent Palestinian state
living side by side with Israel, but literally the eradication of the
state of Israel.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I think that is a wonderful document that
demonstrates why for 55 years now, ever since 1947, the Palestinians
still believe they will destroy Israel and not have to share this with
Israel, but imagine if it was 55 years after the American revolution
and people came to war against us for four times. We would say do you
not get it.
One last thing, the Church of Nativity is being surrounded by
Israelis because there are 200 terrorists in there. They have offered
the Palestinian terrorists in the Church of the Nativity either
surrender and come to trial with international observers of the trial
or we will let you go into exile in another country. These Palestinian
terrorist extremists are so radical they want to rather die or kill
Israelis or destroy the Church of the Nativity rather than go into
exile or to seek to go before an international trial.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to also submit for the record an
editorial written by William Daugherty, who is actually a former CIA
employee who was one of the Iranian captives in 1979. He lives in
Savannah, Georgia, works for Armstrong Atlantic State University, but
he had this letter in the Savannah Morning News, and I thought it was
very good to remind Americans, and I am going to read a lot of this.
It is going to take a few minutes, but he was just saying that we are
focusing on the PLO as anti-Israeli force only and what Dr. Daugherty
says is, yet they have killed Americans. The first American to be
killed by a PLO-sponsored group was Shirley Anderson June 17, 1969.
Since then the PLO groups have murdered more than 60 Americans and
wounded at least as many. Among the dead were two ambassadors, an
Olympic athlete, tourists, business persons and students.
PLO groups under the control of Arafat or his subordinates were the
Black September, Force 17 and the Palestine Liberation Front. Black
September was especially close to Arafat, existing as a front for
Arafat's own mainstream Fatah, led by one of his closest lieutenants.
Then in this letter, I will not read all the umbrella groups that the
PLO, as an umbrella group for a number of different so-called
liberation groups, but the Palestinians on one occasion resorted to
contracting out terrorists attacks, notably when three members of the
Japanese Red Army under the auspices of the PFLP carried out a deadly
assault in the arrival area of Lod Airport outside Tel Aviv; 26 were
killed and 78 wounded, the citizens of America being the majority.
{time} 2130
``Americans were murdered in numerous other ways by PLO members.
Eight were killed when their Swissair jet was blown up en route to Tel
Aviv; others died in bus and car bombings or were shot. Especially
shocking were the ax-murder of a student (1975) and the brutal murder
of Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound elderly tourist on the hijacked
Achille Lauro (1985). But despite knowing the identities of at least
some of the perpetrators, and almost always the organization that they
belonged to, few have ever been arrested and none extradited to the
United States.''
The reason that I thought Mr. Daugherty's letter is important is that
this group, led by Arafat, has been around terrorizing lots of people
for a long time, and it has not been confined to Israelis.
Remembering the Many American Victims of Arafat's Terrorist Network
It is worthwhile to remember that the Palestinian
Liberation Organization, under Yasser Arafat, has been a
terrorist organization for nearly 35 years, and that it and
its subordinate groups have murdered a significant number of
Americans during that time.
Yet not only have the tragedies been forgotten and the
perpetrators mostly unpunished, Arafat, has been accorded
head of state status by many ``civilized'' nations, admitted
as an Observer to the United Nations, and permitted an office
down the street from the White House. Leaving aside for now
any ``blame'' for contemporary middle East history, a review
of terrorism against Americans by the PLO will help Americans
at least partially to understand why Arafat has not been and
cannot be a partner for peace.
The first American to be murdered by a PLO-sponsored group
was Shirley Anderson on June 17, 1969. Since then, PLO groups
have murdered more than 60 American citizens and wounded at
least as many. Among the dead were two ambassadors, an
Olympic athlete, tourists, business persons and students.
PLO terrorist groups, under the control of Arafat or his
chief subordinates were Black September, Force 17, and the
Palestine Liberation Front. Black September was especially
close to Arafat, existing as a front for Arafat's own
``mainstream'' Fatah, and led by Salah Khalaf (Abu lyad), his
closest lieutenant. Other groups existing under the PLO
umbrella with responsibility for American casualties were the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, The Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Command.
The Palestinians upon occasion further resorted to
``contracting out'' terrorist attacks, notably when three
members of the Japanese Red Army, under the auspices of the
PFLP, carried out a deadly assault in the arrival area of Lod
Airport outside of Tel Aviv; 26 were killed and 78 wounded,
the majority American citizens.
Americans were murdered in numerous ways by PLO members.
Eight were killed when their Swissair jet was blown up
enroute to Tel Aviv, others did in bus and care bombings or
were shot. Especially shocking were the ax-murder of a
student (1975) and the brutal murder of Leon Klinghoffer, a
wheelchair-bound elderly tourist on the hijacked Achille
Lauro (1985). But despite knowing the identities of at least
some of the perpetrators, and almost always the organization
they belonged to, few have ever been arrested and none
extradited to the United States.
Perhaps if European counties had fought Palestinian
terrorism in its early days as strenuously as they did their
own domestic terrorism, the Middle East might be different
today, with the PLO a legitimate organization headed by a
Palestinian willing to live in peace with Israel. A few
countries did fight the terrorists, particularly Great
Britain and Germany. But others--France, Austria, Italy,
Greece--not only did not pursue Palestinian terrorists, they
either made deals to avoid acts of terrorism on their own
soil or simply caved in without pressure, afraid of
retaliation.
Rather than treat deaths caused by Palestinian terrorists
as criminal murder, they viewed these abominations merely as
``political acts'' by ``freedom fighters,'' and therefore
excusable.
Best known is the Achille Lauro event and the murder of
passenger Klinghoffer. The terrorists, led by Arafat Protege
Abu Abbas, surrendered to the Egyptians who, rather than
prosecute them as required by the international law, sent
them on their way to Tunis--headquarters of a the PLO at the
time--in an Egyptian jet.
U.S. Navy aircraft intercepted the jet and forced it to
land in Italy. Immediately behind was a transport with
America's elite Delta Force, to take custody of these
terrorists. Surrounding the jet with the terrorists, Delta
then discovered that it was surrounded by Italian military
forces. A firefight between allies seemed imminent, as the
Italians refused to turn over the murderers.
Eventually, four lesser terrorists were indicted by Italy
(and treated with leniency), while Abbas and his second in
command were spirited away to Yugoslavia and thence to Tunis.
Elsewhere, France made deals with the deadly Abu Nidal
Organization (not a PLO group, to be sure) to avoid terrorism
on its territory; and when the ANO set of car bombs in Paris
that killed and maimed several hundred French citizens, the
Socialist government of Francois Mitterrand still kept its
end of the bargain.
There are numerous other examples of Europeans aiding
Palestinian terrorists, may almost beyond comprehension
(France refused to arrest the mastermind of the Munich
massacres and instead provided him protection). But had a
Europe, united by revulsion at foreign-inspired terrorism,
viewed murder for what it was--a criminal vice political
act--and proceeded to work to eradicate it (while
concurrently working with legitimate Palestinian groups to
achieve a peace with Israel), the past 30 years might have
been much different.
Instead, the leader the PLO continues to kill and maim
while hiding behind the facade of statesmanship. It is time
to remember the Americans who become victims of this
terrorist and the dancing in the streets.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I think that is an incredibly important
statement because what we have acknowledged today is that Chairman
Arafat
[[Page H1408]]
not only was a terrorist in the incidents the gentleman was describing
in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but literally into the 21st century. And
one of the things that has been uncovered, again, are internal
documents of the Palestinian Authority off of hard drives of computers
so it is not credible that this is not authenticated, real information.
These are copies which literally has Chairman Arafat's signature. These
are two that are available, and these are specific requests of payments
for terrorists, for people who are engaged in specific acts of
terrorism. From the bar mitzvah ceremony, there are specific names of
people and specific amounts that Arafat personally signed and approved,
$600 per person.
The other chart is a list of 10 people, specific terrorists; and what
is interesting, the gentleman that sent the letter was just captured by
Israelis, and he viewed himself as working directly for Chairman
Arafat. So the terrorism that is described is not terrorism of 5 years
ago or 5 months ago. The dates are interesting, September 19, 2001, and
this is January of 2002.
The Arafat era is over, and I think there has to be an acknowledgment
by the United States that that era is over. We have said repeatedly we
cannot negotiate with terrorists, and that in fact is what Mr. Arafat
is. We cannot negotiate with him. He cannot be a leader. He cannot be a
partner. The Palestinian people have a right to choose their leader,
but that leader cannot be a terrorist if they expect to be a state.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, it breaks our hearts for the Palestinian
people that they have refused to elect leaders who will deliver them a
Palestinian state.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, it is not that they have not, but they have
not been given a choice. One of the things that has been pointed out on
this floor is that Chairman Arafat was supposed to be the leader, and
he was elected in 1996, but that term expired in 2000. In 2000, there
was supposed to be an election that he did not allow to take place.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, the question is what should Israel be doing
now. Israel is doing now what the United States is doing now:
protecting its people from terrorists, and bringing justice to them or
bringing them to justice, until these people either will say we will
live in peace with you, or they will be so disabled by our military
that they no longer threaten our men, women and children. That is what
Israel is doing.
Israel, which has tremendous military intelligence-sharing with the
United States for 50 years, and provides us with great military
advantage in the Middle East, only one of many reasons they have been
our best friend and remain our most important strategic ally in the
whole Middle East for the last 55 years.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow evening I am going to have the
opportunity to have an interactive town meeting that will be available
for people not just in Florida, but through satellite coordinants
throughout the country. If people have questions, the former American
ambassador, Martin Indyk, will be there. The e-mail address to ask
questions is FL[email protected]. The 800 number is 1-800-931-
1303. The satellite coordinants can be acquired through our Web site. I
welcome those comments.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, in closing, while the background of this
conflict is somewhat complicated, the moral dimensions are very, very
clear-cut. We have one side that sends soldiers to wipe out suicide
bombers; the other side that sends suicide bombers to wipe out guests
at bar mitzvahs. We have one side that publishes maps showing how an
Israel and Palestinian state can co-exist; the other side publishes a
map which says Israel does not even exist now. One side apologizes when
its explosives kill wives and children of killers it targeted; the
other side targets wives and children. One side was grief-stricken on
September 11 and declared a national day of mourning; and the other
side danced in the streets and distributed candies in celebration. One
side has never deployed a suicide bomber in its 54 years of existence;
the other side has deployed more than 40 in the past 12 months alone.
____________________