[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 4 (Monday, January 8, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E10-E11]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE TRUMP JERUSALEM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT TAYLOR

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 8, 2018

  Mr. TAYLOR. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a statement on 
behalf of my constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman. Rabbi Zoberman is 
the Founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, 
Virginia. Born in Chu, Kazakhstan (USSR) in 1945, he is the son of 
Polish Holocaust Survivors.

       The Trump Jerusalem Declaration is the first recognition by 
     a U.S. President since the 1948 establishment of the Jewish 
     State of Israel, with President Truman's support, that 
     Jerusalem is indeed its rightful, not only de-facto, capital. 
     How ironic and telling that both President Truman and Trump 
     were opposed by their State Department when taking their 
     critical moves. The United Sates, the world's only superpower 
     and Israel's major ally, reached out to the world's only 
     sovereign Jewish state to assure its questioned authentic 
     narrative at a time of fateful crossroads in the Middle East 
     and beyond.
       Israel has the anomaly of being powerful yet vulnerable 
     given its limited geography and sworn enemies. If Israel's 
     Jerusalem narrative were false, it might unravel its bond 
     with the entire Land of Israel. No wonder that both the 
     Israeli government ruling coalition and opposition have 
     applauded President Trump's forthright action. The Trump 
     Declaration is flexible enough concerning actual arrangements 
     yet to be made by the Israelis and Palestinians. In a so far 
     moribund and stagnant Peace Process, Trump's reshuffling of 
     the cards and providing a ``reality check,'' particularly to 
     the Palestinians, will hopefully gather fruitful momentum. 
     Israel knows that its Palestinian problem is not going away, 
     threatening its Jewish and Democratic character. The 
     Palestinians may finally realize that time is not necessarily 
     on their side.
       Israel's past Prime-Ministers Barak and Olmert offered 
     generous concessions that were nonetheless rebuffed by the 
     Palestinians whose expectations are always higher. The late 
     Prime-Minister Sharon's painful return of Gaza with a 
     flourishing Israeli community has been rewarded with Hamas 
     and Islamic Jihad rockets and terror tunnels. Arab leaders 
     have historically paid lip-service to their Palestinian 
     brethren, while Israel absorbed close to a million Jewish 
     refugees from Arab lands. The Sunni Arab world is currently 
     preoccupied with a nuclear ambitious and aggressive Shia Iran 
     whose menacing presence is growing close to Israel's borders. 
     Israel, characterized by Iran as ``little Satan'' and the 
     United States as ``big Satan,'' is a credible partner in 
     counteracting Iran's worrisome posture.
       How is it that the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in 
     particular ``have never missed an opportunity to miss an 
     opportunity,'' to quote the late Abba Eban, Israel's eloquent 
     Foreign Minister and statesman. They unwisely rejected United 
     Nations 181 Partition Resolution of November 29, 1947, whose 
     70th anniversary was just celebrated by the Jewish people and 
     still protested by Palestinians blind to history's 
     opportunities and facts. The Palestinian leaders have been 
     lacking the courage to confront their bitterly divided people 
     with historical truth and reality that the Jewish state is 
     deeply rooted, longer than anyone else, in its ancestral 
     homeland. The Holocaust, unfortunately, is not a figment of 
     Zionist imagination as some Palestinian, Arab and Iranian 
     leaders claim. Jordan lost East Jerusalem and the West Bank 
     in the 1967 Six-Day-War, after King Hussein was warned not to 
     attack Israel.
       An active movement to delegitimize Israel, perceiving it as 
     a European colonial invader, is emboldened by the numerical 
     and material influence of the 57 Muslim nation-states, 
     including 22 Arab countries, represented in the United 
     Nations U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley should be hailed as a 
     heroic voice of steadfast support for Israel, with President 
     Trump's indispensable encouragement, in that deaf institution 
     betraying its foundational promise. Coupled with hypocritical 
     Europe's fading guilt for the monumental Holocaust, there is 
     a preposterous charge that the Israeli-Jewish saga has no 
     historical leg to stand on with Jerusalem ever a Muslim 
     entity and the Temple Mount including the Western Wall/Noble 
     Sanctuary void of vital Jewish as well as Christian memories. 
     Totally disregarded are a great Biblical heritage, unbroken 
     Jewish presence, millennial prayers and efforts to fully 
     return to the physical and spiritual birthplace of ``Zion and 
     Jerusalem.''
       It is a non-starter for peaceful coexistence to reject 
     Jewish peoplehood represented in the Jewish state. Israel has 
     turned into a collective target, being demonized and 
     dehumanized with never-dying anti-Semitism, Western 
     civilization's oldest disease that Israel's rebirth sought to 
     cure. Given that Israel is perhaps the only nation whose very 
     existence is being challenged and living in a hostile 
     environment, it is a wonder that Israel created a robust 
     democracy protecting human rights in a region abhorring them, 
     rejecting progressive ideas.
       Rather than the Palestinians despairing, a two-state 
     creative solution is within reach with joint arrangements in 
     Jerusalem, however with a de-militarized Palestinian state 
     friendly to both Israel and Jordan. A future confederation 
     involving Israel, Jordan, and Palestine is not farfetched. 
     Surely both sides can find in their separate and even 
     conflicting narratives meeting points and common agendas for 
     an assured bright future, for both peoples are destined to 
     forever be neighbors. Palestinian education sans honoring its 
     terrorists and ceasing hatred for Israel and Jews is urgently 
     needed. Even Egypt and Jordan who signed peace treaties with 
     Israel have neglected to teach their populations basic facts 
     concerning Israel, and to welcome its eager friendship. In 
     this sacred season of the lights of Chanukah and Christmas we 
     remember that both Jews and Christians are at risk in the 
     Middle East. Jerusalem and the hills of Judea and Samaria, 
     once the setting for inspiring prophecies, have ironically 
     and tragically been deprived of Shalom's divine gifts of 
     genuine peace.
       The British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour Declaration on 
     November 2, 1917 which empowered the Zionist movement with 
     international clout is significantly reinforced by President 
     Trump Jerusalem Declaration on December 6, 2017. President

[[Page E11]]

     Trump is now enshrined too in Jewish history. He also is the 
     first sitting U.S. President to pay a visit at the Western 
     Wall, Judaism's holiest site. Both declarations allow for 
     compromise by both sides whose century old rivalry may yet 
     turn into a mutually rewarding source of healing.

                          ____________________