[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 96 (Thursday, June 26, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S8715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WELCOME BACK TO ALASKA, MR. CONSUL GENERAL

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, next week the people of Alaska will 
welcome Mr. Yossi Amrani, the Consul General of the State of Israel for 
the Pacific Northwest, back to our State. He will begin his trip in 
Fairbanks, meeting with students and members of the community at the 
University of Alaska, visiting with members of Congregation Or 
Hatzafon, which has the northernmost synagogue building in the world, 
and speaking to the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. He will also 
visit Anchorage on this trip and I look forward to meeting with him 
then.
  This is not Mr. Amrani's first visit to my State, but it is his first 
visit to Fairbanks, the ``Golden Heart City.'' Although the Fairbanks 
Jewish community is small in numbers, the fundamental Jewish values of 
tikkun olam, making the world a better place; tzedakah, charity; and 
chesed, kindness, are deeply ingrained in the Fairbanks culture, as 
they are in the culture of Alaska as a whole.
  Like the Fairbanks Jewish community, the Alaska Jewish community is 
small in numbers, but large in spirit. In the late 1990s, Professor 
Bernard Reisman from Brandeis University visited Alaska on several 
occasions to learn more about our Jewish community. He concluded that 
in virtually all areas, the Alaska Jewish community has a higher level 
of identity than do American Jews generally. He found this to be true 
not only in places like Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, which have 
functioning congregations, but also in the smaller communities, where 
``conveners'' organize regular get togethers, especially on Jewish 
holidays.
  Members of the Jewish community occupy a prominent role in the 
social, economic, cultural and political life of Alaska. A few weeks 
ago, I welcomed the internationally known holocaust scholar, Dr. 
Michael Schuldiner of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, to my office 
in Washington. Dr. Schuldiner discussed his work with the United States 
Holocaust Memorial. Another UAF scholar, Dr. Michael Krauss, has worked 
closely with the Alaska congressional delegation for many years in 
efforts to preserve Alaska Native languages. And let us not forget the 
many contributions of the Gottstein family to virtually every aspect of 
Alaska's fabric.
  This is not a new phenomenon. The beautiful municipal library in 
Anchorage is named for Zachary J. Loussac, a Russian Jewish immigrant, 
who served as Mayor of Anchorage. The Girl Scout camp in Fairbanks is 
named for Jessie Bloom, who along with her husband Robert, are regarded 
as the founding leaders of the Fairbanks Jewish community. In 1926, 
Jessie started the first Girl Scout troop in Alaska, while Robert was a 
founder of what was later to become the University of Alaska. Our 
striking new courthouse in Fairbanks is named for Jay Rabinowitz who 
served for many years on the Alaska Supreme Court.
  The survival of the State of Israel is important to the people of 
Alaska as it is to the American Jewish community and the American 
people. In Washington, I stand shoulder to shoulder with my colleagues 
in praying for peace in the Middle East while standing firm on the 
principle that terrorism is morally and politically unacceptable. 
Terrorism will not undo Israel's future. When the Senate returns in 
July, it will consider comprehensive energy legislation and I am 
hopeful that my amendment to guarantee that Israel will have a secure 
source of petroleum in the event it cannot independently acquire it due 
to an embargo will be in the bill when it passes the Senate.
  During this visit to Alaska, as on previous visits, the Consul 
General will encounter the vast natural beauty of our state. But he 
will also discover, as in previous visits, that it is the people of 
Alaska that make this place truly special. Shalom, Mr. Consul General. 
I hope that you will visit with Alaskans often.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the message of Consul 
General Yossi Amrani be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

     Message of Consul General Yossi Amrani to the People of Alaska

       The friendship and alliance between the United States and 
     Israel have many varied faces, moral, political, economic and 
     strategic. The partnership is on the federal and state level 
     alike. Israeli consulates in the country, local Jewish 
     communities together with state level administrations aim at 
     fostering and nurturing the relationship for the benefit of 
     both countries. In the state of Alaska, thousands of miles 
     apart, the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific 
     Northwest Region works with state leaders and the Jewish 
     community to bring the two nations together in sharing the 
     values, ideals and concerns of both people. The Consulate 
     provides seminars and speaking engagements in different 
     campuses, churches and temples to educate public opinion on 
     the complexity of the situation in the Middle East and the 
     importance of the U.S. role in that region. The Consulate 
     also promotes Israeli culture and business opportunities. 
     Mutual values are the corner stones of the relationship and 
     affinity between the people of Alaska and Israel. As we 
     maintain U.S. support for Israel's existence and well being, 
     we aspire to continue building stronger relations.

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