[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 11, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E419-E420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ARTICLE BY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD L. SCHROCK

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 11, 2003

  Mr. SCHROCK. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share the following article 
written by a constituent, Rabbi Israel Zoberman. His article is timely 
and informative with respect to the current political situation in 
Israel.

       With a heavy heart I bade shalom's farewell to elderly 
     parents who are Holocaust survivors, and to Israel where I 
     grew up, on the eve of the unknown. I left a country calmly 
     readying itself for a probable American attack on Iraq in 
     freedom's name, and possible ramifications for the Jewish 
     state that already experienced a limited taste of Saddam 
     Hussein's Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. As then, 
     which I witnessed as well, the Israeli public receives 
     updated gas masks, and urged to prepare a sealed shelter with 
     essential food items. There is less concern now though it can 
     quickly change.
       I visited Israel with fellow rabbis immediately following 
     the general elections there which serve as a barometer for 
     the citizens' mindset, particularly after enduring over two 
     years of the bloody Second Initifada presenting Israel with 
     its greatest crisis since its 1948 inception. The resulting 
     shrinking economy and the growing gap between the haves and 
     the have-nots have added pressure, but also fortified the 
     Israeli resolve to withstand the Palestinian assault of 
     unprecedented suicide-homicide bombings, reflected in the 
     elections' outcome. Free elections are not to be taken for 
     granted in that part of the world, and Israel's vibrant 
     example is the only such sign of democratic life! Israel is 
     worried that only 69 percent of eligible voters participated 
     this time, that should only happen in our own great 
     democracy.
       Prime Minister Sharon and the political Right were assured 
     a major victory though the message was primarily aimed at 
     Chairman Arafat along with punishing Israel's Left for 
     providing him through the Oslo Accords with the means to 
     terrorize though short of submission to his agenda. Thus 
     Arafat's plan boomeranged to gain through violence beyond 
     what former Prime Minister Barak so trustfully offered him. 
     He lost his gamble, with the Palestinians miscalculating once 
     more and continuing to hurt their own welfare. This time 
     Arafat succeeded to convince Israel and the U.S., both 
     victims of terrorism and allies in combating it, that he is a 
     critical obstacle to peace. I was fortunate to participate in 
     a helicopter ride along the seam line separating the Israelis 
     and Palestinians, watching from above the complexity of 
     erecting the separation fence and Israel's disconcerting 
     narrow waistline.
       The sharpening conflict has also adversely impacted 
     European Jewry as

[[Page E420]]

     we studied the precipitous rise in anti-Semitism in France 
     during our initial stop there, mindful of the contributing 
     presence of millions of Arab Muslims though the French 
     authorities are not indifferent to the Jewish plight. We were 
     warmly greeted and candidly briefed by Howard Leach, the 
     American Ambassador to France in his official residence. 
     Israel's ambassador, Nissin Zvllli, was gracious as well. 
     Both ambassadors pointed at the linkage between the events 
     in the Middle East and the French scene. Our moving 
     meeting with the legendary Nazi-hunter Beatte Klarsfeld 
     reminded us that the Holocaust's ghosts are not altogether 
     expunged. This sense was reinforced at the Drancy Memorial 
     on the outskirts of Paris, where French Jews were herded 
     into the surrounding building complex before deportation 
     to death.
       I painfully watched in disbelief on Israeli TV the 
     shattering dream, so close to realization though so far, of 
     Israel's first astronaut on his maiden voyage. Ilan Ramon's 
     call from outer space to remember that we are all one human 
     family on a precious but fragile planet Earth will long echo. 
     His radiating and captivating optimism is so sorely missing 
     and needed at this trying time. He, whose mother survived 
     Auschwitz, along with his inspiring American colleagues 
     aboard the Columbia, taught us how vulnerable are our most 
     noble human aspirations and that the road to accomplishing 
     them is strewn with broken pieces of a reality we are yet 
     pledged to redeem through shalom's persistent promise of 
     peace.
  Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chaverim 
in Virginia Beach, is a member of the Rabbinic Cabinet of United Jewish 
Communities.

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