[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 67 (Thursday, May 19, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ARTICLE BY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN

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                          HON. THELMA D. DRAKE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 18, 2005

  Mrs. DRAKE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share the following article 
written by a constituent, Rabbi Israel Zoberman.

       I vividly recall my pride back in 1980 at the Rockefeller 
     Chapel of the University of Chicago as I received the first 
     doctoral degree awarded to a Rabbi by McCormick Theological 
     Seminary which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, 
     USA. The dean whispered in my ear, ``You are the first,'' 
     without public fanfare. A disconcerting reminder of that 
     ambiguous attitude is the recent controversial vote by the 
     216th General Assembly of the PC (USA) meeting in Richmond, 
     Virginia for studying ``selective divestment'' from companies 
     doing business in Israel with at least one million dollars in 
     revenue, and deemed to hurt the Palestinians.
       It is quite astonishing that there was a rather limited 
     sense of the adverse impact of the anti-Israel move on the 
     American Jewish community. Did not the Presbyterian 
     leadership know that the best way to unite the Jews is to 
     challenge the Jewish state in a serious way? Organized 
     American Jewry is surely committed to safeguarding Israel's 
     well-being at the critical front here at home. For a mainline 
     Protestant denomination, though with dwindling members but 
     with yet considerable influence, to go beyond past critical 
     resolutions and risk alienating its Jewish partners in common 
     quests of interfaith dialogue for a better America and 
     humanity, is a cause for an evaluative pause.
       What has gone so wrong? How can we set the record straight 
     and rejoin in essential and increased cooperation, 
     establishing better lines of communication? In a climate of 
     rising world anti-Semitism, won't divestment worsen matters, 
     threatening to place Israel in the pariah state category as 
     was the case with South Africa which the Presbyterians 
     rightly pursued? Would other religious bodies and secular 
     institutions be tempted to follow suit? Wouldn't added 
     economic pressure and isolation damage Israel's ongoing 
     courageous peace work, hurting a close ally of the U.S.?
       To attack Israel following four bloody years of unremitting 
     and victimizing terrorist suicide bombings that no other 
     nation would have tolerated without a major response that 
     surely Israel could deliver, is a sad commentary on the 
     exhibited callousness of mostly friends tuning out a certain 
     reality. A reality including the plight of the Christian 
     minority in the Arab Muslim world in general and particularly 
     now among the Palestinians where ironically the Presbyterians 
     have long roots of involvement, it, obviously affecting their 
     stance on Middle East issues. It is also the outcome of too 
     many Presbyterians lacking pertinent information.
       The cited Israeli security barrier as problematic ignores 
     the dramatic reduction in terrorist infiltrations as well as 
     Israel's Supreme Court intervention in correcting the 
     barrier's path to alleviate hardships, with its final destiny 
     dependent upon future developments. It was after all the late 
     Chairman Arafat who responded in 2000 at Camp David to the 
     offered vision of peace with improved upon past violence, 
     reverting to his old terrorist persona with which he chose to 
     die. It is Prime Minister Sharon who succeeded in radically 
     transforming himself to the point of supporting a Palestinian 
     state, presently risking his life with his disengagement plan 
     from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
       How can an enduring and inspiring Israel, a beleaguered 
     outpost of Western values, be compared to a corrupt and 
     terrorism-friendly Palestinian Authority yet to prove with 
     its newly elected president Mahamud Abbas, through Israeli 
     cooperation, that our trust in its democratic and peaceful 
     potential is not dangerously misplaced? How tragic indeed 
     that Palestinian suffering is largely due to its leaders' 
     ineptitude and the duplicity of the Arab nations through the 
     years, abusing their brethren's plight for their own 
     regressive agenda, while refusing to grant them their own 
     state prior to 1967 when Israel was saddled with the 
     territories following an attack on Jewish sovereignty.
       Lastly but not least, the continued Presbyterian misguided 
     goal to missionize among Jews remains a blight on a 
     denomination that deserves better. Commemorating the 60th 
     anniversary of the liberation of the Holocaust's death camps 
     with a first, special session of the United Nations General 
     Assembly on January 24th, 2005, we recall that modern Israel 
     arose from the martyrs' ashes. History has taught us that 
     when we deny a people's spiritual authenticity we ultimately 
     invite its physical annihilation.

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