[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 300]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 300]]

                         TRIBUTE TO PHIL BLAZER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 31, 2000

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues Mr. Berman and Mr. Sherman, 
and I rise today to ask our colleagues to join us in honoring the 
extraordinary career of our dear friend Phil Blazer. Phil has dedicated 
his thirty-five-year career to serving the Jewish community as editor 
and publisher of the Jewish News and as an effective activist for 
important Jewish and human rights causes.
  Phil began his career as an eager and wide-eyed seventeen-year-old 
radio announcer at KVFM in the San Fernando Valley of California. He 
moved to Minnesota for college and continued his radio career at KUXL, 
and quickly began a Jewish community radio program for Minneapolis and 
St. Paul. After college, he retuned to KVFM as station manager and 
continued his Jewish community program in the San Fernando Valley. 
Phil's current radio program is now on KIEV and is heard throughout 
Southern California. He has many devoted listeners who depend on his 
program for news, perspective, and insight.
  In 1977, Phil started a television program, which still airs today 
and is now carried in over 300 communities in Southern California. It 
is also broadcast in New York City and New Jersey on Sundays. His 
audience numbers over 250,000 people and he has become an icon to his 
audiences throughout the nation.
  Perhaps Phil's greatest contribution has been his newspaper, The 
Jewish News, which he founded in 1973. Hardly a local paper, it now 
serves 73 countries worldwide. The Jewish News serves to connect 
distinct Jewish communities by sharing local, national and 
international news and trends. It is a beloved paper and a staple of 
Los Angeles Jewish life.
  Phil's career has also been dedicated to human rights work and Jewish 
causes. He is a visionary leader who has worked to shape critical 
historical events. In 1973, he helped smuggle a Torah into Leningrad to 
support the Jews of Russia. In 1978, he traveled to Washington, D.C. at 
the invitation of former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to confer with 
the State Department and the White House as a participant in the 
redirection of U.S. Middle East policy.
  Also in 1978, Phil attended the historic Begin/Sadat meeting in 
Jerusalem. The following year he aired a landmark broadcast of his 
radio program via satellite from the studios of Radio Cairo as the 
guest of Anwar Sadat.
  Phil's philanthropic work continued in 1985 when he organized the now 
famous Operation Joshua, which succeeded in rescuing nearly 1,000 
Ethiopian Jews from refugee camps in Sudan and resettling them in 
Israel. In 1992, Phil developed California legislation with Assemblyman 
Richard Katz that mandated a course of study about the Holocaust be 
taught in all California public schools. This bill was signed into law 
by the Governor of California on September 21, 1992.
  These are a few examples of Phil's tireless dedication to Jewish 
causes and human rights around the world. His real gift, however, is 
his compassion and love for humankind. While successfully building his 
own media empire, Phil has never lost sight of his commitment to better 
the human condition in every way possible. He is truly an example of 
one person making a difference in thousands of people's lives.
  Mr. Speaker, we ask our colleagues to join us in honoring Phil Blazer 
for his remarkable accomplishments over the past thirty-five years and 
in wishing him continued success and happiness in all future endeavors.

                          ____________________