[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 12, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNIZING THE THREAT TO ISRAELI DEMOCRACY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JENNIFER A. KIGGANS

                              of VIRGINIA

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 12, 2023

  Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record 
remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi 
Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, and are a reflection of his 
views:

       I have returned from the torn Land of Israel where I grew 
     up, following a visit throughout July of a shaking, even 
     shocking experience. Israel is undergoing a trauma whose 
     lasting impact is impossible to predict. However, the current 
     internal crisis threatening Israeli democracy, the Middle 
     East's sole one, is due to the most extreme coalition 
     government in Israel's history attempting to alter its 
     Western liberal orientation by disabling the Supreme Court's 
     standing as an independent Judiciary. Consequently, the 
     unprecedented mass demonstrations for months in opposition to 
     the proposed radical agenda which I watched in disbelief and 
     participated in, have reflected a powerful popular response 
     determined to preserve Israel as both the Jewish and 
     democratic state envisioned by its founders. Already 
     adversely affected are the Israeli economy, military, public 
     health, the woman's status, education, Pride community and 
     society at large, while Israel's enemies, Iran and its 
     proxies, become further emboldened. The special relationship 
     between Israel and the United States is at risk as well as 
     the essential bond between Israel and American Jewry.
       With heartfelt, even prophetic pathos and deep grasp of the 
     multi-layered Israeli scene since its inception and prior, 
     veteran Israeli author Ari Shavit offers us a concise 
     manifesto for urgent action with the goal of ``Saving 
     Israel,'' his recent book's alarming title (Saving Israel. 
     Rishon LeZion: Miskal--Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed 
     Books. 2023). He begins with a statement of both profound 
     gratitude and grave concern, ``the State of Israel is a 
     miracle. No other nation did what we have: To build anew a 
     national home following two thousand years. No progressive 
     democracy succeeded to flourish as we have, following a Shoah 
     and living under a volcano. Despite all the troubles, 
     problems, weaknesses, difficulties and blemishes--The Zionist 
     dream has been realized. The people of Israel live, and the 
     state of Israel lives. Our sons and daughters have in our 
     ancestral land what our grandfathers and grandmothers did 
     not: Sovereignty, freedom, prosperity, pride and progress. 
     Being a technological, economic, military and political 
     super-power, Israel of the 21st century is a strong country 
     capable of shaping its own fate and march toward a brilliant 
     future. But the deep 2023 crisis threatens the Israeli 
     miracle and erasing our astonishing successes, leaving us 
     homeless.''
       Shavit does not mince words. On the one hand, heaps praise 
     upon Israel's successes though Israel is not a global, as the 
     author claims, but a regional superpower. In light of trying 
     beginnings and facing monumental challenges that were likely 
     to doom the fragile creation: Attacks from a collection of 
     superior military establishments while absorbing penniless 
     immigrants from west and east three times larger in size, 
     into a war zone with meager resources. On the other hand, he 
     bemoans the Jewish people's destructive tendencies that 
     brought down Jewish sovereignty and led into long exile and 
     ultimately a consuming Holocaust. ``And the Jewish people has 
     multi-talents though sorrowfully it lacks the talent to be a 
     people. It tends toward extremism, internal strife and self-
     destruction . . . Israel needs to be both powerful and 
     ethical, both national and liberal, both Jewish and 
     democratic. Only a combination of resoluteness and openness 
     will guarantee that not weakness nor zealousness will bring 
     us again to the pit's cusp.''
       The author is convinced that the goal is within reach 
     though the hour is late and the Israelis with all their 
     complexities and tribal tendencies ought not further delay. 
     He thus concludes, ``The good and silent great Israeli 
     majority will not remain still. The democratic Jews will not 
     let a wondrous national and human enterprise to go down. For 
     all of us have a stake in this special place. And we all know 
     that there wouldn't be a Fourth Commonwealth. The Third 
     Commonwealth is the Jewish people's last opportunity. With 
     determination, love and faith we'll defend Israel and rebuild 
     the house.''

  Rabbi Israel Zoberman is founder of Temple of Lev Tikvah in Virginia 
Beach.

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