[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 19, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING A STATEMENT BY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN, SPIRITUAL LEADER OF 
              CONGREGATION BETH CHAVERIM IN VIRGINIA BEACH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. J. RANDY FORBES

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 19, 2005

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of a statement 
by Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth 
Chaverim in Virginia Beach, Virginia in recognition of the hope of 
peace created by recent Middle East developments.

       I have been witness to remarkable developments in the 
     Middle East with far-reaching implications, giving that 
     volatile and violent region and the world at large renewed 
     hope for peaceful transformation following four and a half 
     years of the bloody Second Intifada now formally ended.
       As a member of the Rabbinical Council of ARZA, the 
     Association of The Reform Zionists of America, serving the 
     million and a half Jews of Reform Judaism, our delegation was 
     at Israel's Knesset when German President Horst Kohler 
     accompanied by Israeli President Moshe Katzav entered to 
     address the parliamentary body on the 40th anniversary of 
     Israeli-German diplomatic relations. Sixty years since the 
     death camps' liberation it was still too trying for a few of 
     Israel's elected representatives to hear the language used by 
     the Holocaust's perpetrators though Germany has become 
     Israel's close friend.
       Yet this historic opportunity, the first for a German 
     president on an official state visit with the German flag 
     decorating Jerusalem's streets, is an appreciated lesson that 
     peace can follow a painful past. It also alerts us that fears 
     and vulnerabilities simmer just below the surface, mindful of 
     the global rise in anti-Semitism and the apprehension 
     concerning ultimate Arab intentions. In our discussions with 
     Knesset members of both the coalition and opposition, we were 
     exposed to Israel's vibrant democracy that hopefully will 
     spread throughout the Middle East.
       Equally significant was to watch Secretary of State 
     Condoleezza Rice's motorcade speed through Israel's Capital. 
     Her poignant presence so closely following her installation 
     in office was a clear signal to all concerned that the United 
     States led by President George W. Bush placed the settlement 
     of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict high on its agenda of 
     concerns, to enabling both sides to reach that elusive peace 
     which involves the traumatic disengagement from Gaza and 
     parts of the West Bank along with further trying concessions 
     for the two long-embattled peoples. Chairman Abu Mazen's 
     immediate and fateful challenge is to prevail upon militant 
     Palestinians to end the terrorism of suicide bombings and 
     rocket launchings that might derail progress as in the past. 
     However, Jewish extremists pose danger of their own, 
     recalling Prime Minister Rabin's 1995 assassination.
       I was glued to Israeli T.V. as the Sharon Summit with Prime 
     Minister Sharon, Chairman Abu Mazen, President Mubarak and 
     King Abdullah gathered with evident determination to break 
     through the vicious cycle of death and despair. Both Sharon 
     and Abu Mazen vowed to immediately cease all military 
     operations with Egypt and Jordan committing to returning 
     their ambassadors to Israel. When Sharon heartfeltedly spoke 
     these unforgettable words, ``to kindle for all the region's 
     nations a first light of hope,'' I whispered my own ``Amen.''
       Our warm meeting in Tel-Aviv with American Ambassador 
     Daniel Kurtzer was an illuminating experience, as we were 
     briefed by a Middle East expert on the arena's shifting 
     dynamics. He expressed cautious optimism following Arafat's 
     departure, the one who was the stalling obstacle at Camp 
     David 2000 and beyond. We toured various segments of the 
     ``security barrier,'' and in Jerusalem we were guided by 
     Colonel (Res.) Danny Terza, the project's head administrator 
     for the Ministry of Defense who has been responsible for its 
     complex erection in a city with multi religious and ethnic 
     layers that he successfully dialogued with to avoid hard 
     feelings. The cement part of the fence, only 4.5 percent of 
     it, is designed to be dismantled when called upon. Its 
     purpose of blocking terrorist infiltrations has proved itself 
     over ninety percent.
       We held a memorial service in the Nahalal cemetery of the 
     Jesreel valley for Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who 
     perished along with his heroic fellow crew members of the 
     Columbia shuttle two years ago. Ilan, who participated as a 
     pilot in 1981 in destroying Iraq's nuclear facility and whose 
     mother survived Auschwitz, will remain an enduring symbol of 
     courage and creativity. Our group of rabbis also paid respect 
     at the Abukasis home in the town of Sderot, who lost their 
     seventeen year old daughter Ella, an exemplary young woman, 
     in a rocket attack on January 15 from neighboring Gaza. The 
     heroic high school senior was killed while she saved the life 
     of her wounded ten year old brother Tamir, protecting him 
     with her own body.
       Let the day come soon when the children of both parties to 
     the tragic conflict will grow up to fulfill their soaring 
     dreams. After all, it is their birthright and the best 
     guarantee for lasting peace.

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