[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 60 (Saturday, April 12, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E770-E771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR STATE OF ISRAEL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 11, 2003

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, the following brief statement speaks for 
itself with respect to my appreciation for the State of Israel. Israel 
is presently in the midst of an intense violent struggle which has led 
to the accumulation of many progressive critics. While I sympathize 
with the plight of the Palestinian people, I am also convinced that 
they are primarily the victims of their own leaders--and the jihad 
fanatics around the world who insist on the use of savage violence to 
achieve their goals. Israel has no choice but to meet the fanatic 
violence with violence. Arafat and the Palestinian leadership have set 
the stage and made the rules for this ongoing destructive engagement. 
Even if you accept the assumption that the Palestinian people have some 
legitimate grievances, one can still not condone the method they have 
chosen to seek solutions. For any group confronted by an overwhelming 
governing power, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela have 
shown the way. The use of nonviolence to petition for the redress of 
assumed grievances was and still is a choice for the constructive 
forces among the Palestinians. On the other hand it is a certainty that 
Israel will never negotiate any change while confronted with the 
savagery of suicide bombings. We would all like to see this kingpin 
conflict in the Middle East resolved. I am convinced that it can be 
resolved permanently and peacefully because Israel is not just another 
government held together by greed and military power. Israel is the 
democratic nation guided by a long history of suffering and inspiring 
human spirits that I describe in this speech at the AIPAC Capitol Club 
Dinner on March 30, 2003:

  I consider it an honor to have an opportunity to reaffirm my 
unconditional support for the State of Israel. On any major matter 
involving Israel my vote is always there. I believe firmly and 
fervently that the salvation of the kind of civilization I want my 
grandchildren to inherit and enjoy cannot be realized unless we 
establish many more truly democratic nations all over the globe. Those 
who believe that more democracy is the answer should also automatically 
be advocates for Israel. Starting with a constitution which is probably 
more thorough and more practical than even the United States 
Constitution, Israel is a model democracy. And woven into the tapestry 
that makes Israel a great nation are the spirits of Golda Meir, David 
Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin and other similar great sages. These spirits 
accomplish for Israel what the spirits of Jefferson, Lincoln, Truman 
and others contribute to the definition of America as a nation. We all 
agree that a nation is more than anyone administration or one set of 
policies and diplomacy postures. Founding principles and ideals 
interwoven with the great spirits permanently define a nation. Those 
who say that Israel is a Middle East outpost for the U.S. or that the

[[Page E771]]

enduring interests of Israel are inextricably interwoven with the 
interests of the U.S. may not be correct in a formal and legal sense, 
but the spirit of these positions should be welcomed and appreciated. 
From the ashes of any temporary crisis or stresses we expect Israel and 
the U.S. to emerge strongly, fighting together for the same long-term 
principles and ideals. Temporary disagreements about strategy and 
tactics must never be allowed to separate us. Based on our individual 
perceptions and interpretations some of us oppose the war in Iraq; and 
some others support it. This difference does not break out along any 
clear ethnic, racial or religious lines. What we must jointly never 
forget during this current crisis is that there are hostile enemies of 
democracy and that Israel must be kept strong in order to remain as a 
model on the front lines fighting to save the kind of government which 
Abraham Lincoln said should never perish from the earth.

                          ____________________