[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 137 (Thursday, September 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1642-E1643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WE MUST CONTINUE TO STAND WITH ISRAEL

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM JORDAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 15, 2011

  Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend's shocking attack on 
Israel's embassy in Cairo reminded us of the ongoing challenges faced 
by Israel as it continues to take risk after risk in the name of 
establishing lasting peace in the Middle East.
  Thousands of rioters knocked down a recently installed protective 
barrier, ransacked the embassy, burned Israeli flags, and held six

[[Page E1643]]

security guards hostage. These shameful acts had the potential to do 
great harm to the hard-won 1979 peace treaty--a treaty penned barely a 
generation after the Holocaust and in the wake of the blatant 1973 
attacks by Egypt and Syria that opened the Yom Kippur War.
  Yet even in the face of evidence that the rioters seek an end to the 
peace treaty, Israel remains dedicated to it. Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu paid rich tribute to the ultimate actions of 
Egyptian authorities to quell the riot and rescue the embassy guards. 
He pledged that the ambassador and the embassy's staff will return to 
Cairo when security can be better guaranteed. Israelis well know that 
peace with Egypt is in the best interest of both nations and the entire 
region.
  As Prime Minister Netanyahu said in his May address to Congress, 
Israel is ``the one anchor of stability'' in the Middle East. 
Unwavering, self-sustaining, and yet faced with threats to its 
sovereignty from many sides, Israel has taken every chance to secure 
peace over its six-plus decades of existence. The prime minister has 
repeatedly said that Israel is willing to make ``painful compromises'' 
to achieve a two-state solution and quell violence in Gaza and the West 
Bank. In response, Israel is vilified in the United Nations, mocked for 
its attempts to survive, and met with open calls for its elimination.
  Mr. Speaker, we must continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with 
Israel, a vanguard against the terror states of the Middle East. Our 
two nations share a strong, long-lasting partnership based on mutual 
democratic values and freedoms. We must remain united against all 
threats to Israel's peace, stability, and its very existence--which, as 
we were reminded just days ago, cannot be taken for granted.

                          ____________________