[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 72 (Wednesday, June 5, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             ON THE 25TH BIRTHDAY OF ISRAELI MIA GUY HEVER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ANTHONY D. WEINER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 4, 2002

  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the 25th birthday of 
Israeli MIA Guy Hever. This is the fifth consecutive year that the 
Hever family has marked this occasion since Guy disappeared after 
leaving his base in the Golan in August 1997. While Israeli authorities 
have been unable to unearth any substantive clue as to Guy's fate, 
there is growing suspicion that the answers lie in Syria. The Syrians 
to date, have refused to answer any questions on the topic.
  Syria's reticence in this matter comes as no surprise. Over the past 
twenty years Syrian intransigence has obstructed the efforts of the 
international community to resolve the cases of both Arabs and Jews who 
have been held captive in Syria and in Lebanon under Syrian control. In 
particular, American efforts to secure the release of American citizen, 
and my former constituent, Zachary Baumel, have been repeatedly stymied 
by Damascus since his capture in a battle with Syrian forces in 1982.
  The Hevers and the other MIA families have not given up hope that 
their loved ones will come home alive, nor should they. Given Syria's 
record of holding prisoners incommunicado for as long as twenty years 
before releasing them, it is not at all inconceivable that live 
Israelis are being held under Syrian tutelage.
  Mr. Speaker, our government should be far more aggressive in 
demanding the release of Israel's missing men. Israel, the only true 
democracy in the Middle East, is our closest ally in that region. In 
1991, when Americans were held hostage in Lebanon, Israel went to 
extraordinary lengths to help secure the release of those hostages. As 
Syria and others in the region who have benefitted from American aid 
and military assistance equivocate as to whether to assist America in 
its war on international terror, Israel has always been by our side. 
Israel's steadfast reliability as an ally should not be forgotten.
  The time has come Mr. Speaker, to strike a blow at the hostage 
industry that Syria and its terrorist proxies have utilized so 
effectively against Israel and the West over the past twenty years. The 
events of September 11th have made it abundantly clear to Americans 
that yesterday's terror in Israel will become tomorrow's tragedy in 
America--unless we act. And if we allow Syria or other states to remain 
unaccountable for holding Israeli hostages, we are simply inviting more 
hostage taking in the Middle East and throughout the world. We cannot 
be complacent--if Elchanan Tannenbaum, an Israeli taken hostage by 
Hizbullah in October 2000, can be abducted from Europe, so can any 
American citizen. If Guy Hever, who was reportedly last seen near the 
Syrian border, can disappear off the face of the earth without a trace, 
so can any American traveling in the Middle East. Unless we act more 
forcefully, Zachary Baumel will not be the last American hostage to be 
held in Lebanon or Syria, and in the aftermath of September 11th, we 
will not be able to claim that it could not be foreseen.
  Mr. Speaker, in 1999 I cosponsored HR 1175--A Bill to Locate and 
Secure the Release of Zachary Baumel an American Citizen and other 
Israeli Soldiers Missing in Action. The bill was passed by Congress and 
signed by President Clinton. But not enough has been done to ensure 
compliance with the legislation. H.R. 1175 is the law and it must be 
upheld. This June, as Syria assumes the rotating Presidency of the 
United Nations Security Council and Zachary Baumel marks the twentieth 
anniversary of his capture, I urge the President to stringently apply 
the provisions of H.R. 1175, which is now Public Law 106-89. I also 
call on my colleagues to support the Syrian Accountability Act, which 
will force Syria to end its role in the taking and holding of hostages. 
And I call on the leadership of this House to bring this bill to a 
vote.
  At this time I also ask my colleagues to join me in support of Guy's 
parents Rina and Eitan, and Guy's twin siblings Shir and Or, who 
continue to turn over the world in search of information regarding Guy. 
Their nobility and determination during these five sleepless years of 
doubt and terror, should be matched by our own vigilance in enacting 
initiatives to deprive terrorists and their sponsors of this most cruel 
weapon of kidnaping. Guy Hever--Eifo Ata? (Where are you, in Hebrew.)

                          ____________________