[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    TRIBUTE TO RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD L. SCHROCK

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 20, 2001

  Mr. SCHROCK. Dear Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise 
today to honor Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation 
Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach. He is also the President of the 
Hampton Roads Board of Rabbis, and Chairman of the Community Relations 
Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. I would like to 
share the following article that was written by Rabbi Zoberman and 
appeared in the Virginian-Pilot on August 13, 2001.

            Israel Will Focus On Survival First, Peace Later

       I have just encountered a place like no other where a 
     watermelon may include an explosive device and fanatic 
     suicide bombers threaten to rip apart all who happen to be in 
     their vicinity. Being in Jerusalem a week ago, the latest 
     terrifying carnage there has a chilling immediacy of both 
     numbness and outrage! Can our Western mindset focused on 
     fulfilling our individual lives in the here and now, catering 
     to our every whim, understand those young Islamic terrorists 
     transformed into martyrs with their bodies perfumed to reach 
     heavenly delights not before turning earth into hell?
       On a recent solidarity mission to Israel sponsored by the 
     Union of American Hebrew Congregations (Judaism's Reform 
     branch), I was exposed to that reality reminiscent of the 
     twilight zone, though the Israelis, to their credit proceed 
     almost with life as usual. In fact, a major disaster was 
     averted in Haifa when a suicide bomber got cold feet, an 
     unusual occurrence. We were there to offer our brethren the 
     familial support that only our physical presence could 
     provide, so essential to their ability to persevere in face 
     of a challenge not to them alone but to all civilized life.
       Israel's dramatic accomplishments, aided by the promise of 
     peace, particularly shine brightly in that part of the world, 
     with a GNP approaching Western Europe's and a second-to-none 
     high-tech revolution reflective of its brain-power, 
     underlying an alliance with human progress and innovation. It 
     is even more impressive given the Israeli context of security 
     concerns while absorbing a million immigrants from as diverse 
     cultures as the Russian and Ethiopian ones. The great strides 
     toward lasting peace with the Arab world following bitter 
     wars with only a year ago reaching the brink of finally 
     burying the hatchet with the resilient Palestinian foe. That 
     dream dashed by Chairman Arafat who apparently could not 
     grasp how far his people came, turning instead to his all too 
     familiar way of violence in violation of the Oslo Accords 
     that he signed. Rabbi Michael Melchoir, Deputy Foreign 
     Minister, who was at Camp David, assured us that former Prime 
     Minister Barak indeed courageously made the ``historical 
     concessions'' inviting Arafat to respond constructively. 
     Melchoir emphasized that the present lengthy crisis has 
     created much hardship to the Palestinian population with 
     fifty-percent unemployment and their towns under closure.
       Perhaps it was the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister 
     Rabin by a Jewish extremist that ultimately led to the deadly 
     impasse. Rabin and Arafat developed a personal bond so 
     essential for overcoming years of mutual mistrust. The 
     daughter of the general turned peacemaker, Dalia Rabin-
     Pelosoff, who serves as Deputy Defense Minister, movingly 
     reminded us at the Rabin Center For the Study of Peace, that 
     the fateful bullet continues to affect the Middle East's 
     destiny. But the petite and assertive woman was also adamant 
     of the need to stand up to terrorism and carefully separate 
     the two peoples, in which I wholeheartedly concur. 
     Disconcertingly, she reported of yet no information on the 
     fate of the three kidnapped Israeli soldiers including Benny 
     Avraham of Tidewater's adopted Pardes Katz. At the same 
     setting, the new U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, 
     asked us in the midst of a trying scenario to remember the 
     end goal of peace.
       Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's message to us dwelled on the 
     overriding importance of preserving our common Jewish 
     identity and his profound appreciation for the role played by 
     American Jewry, the bridge between the small Jewish state and 
     the tested ally and true friend of the world's sole super 
     power, which too has painfully faced Arab terrorism. He is 
     under heavy criticism for this dovish transformation from his 
     own Likkud party and Israelis at large to end an intolerable 
     situation that no state would put up with. His targeting of 
     Palestinian leaders engaged in organized terror in which 
     Arafat's non-democratic and corrupt Palestinian Authority is 
     a key factor, aims at reducing the level of violence while 
     avoiding the risk of a wider war which, I believe, might not 
     be prevented after all. From the political left, Yossi 
     Beilin, the former Justice Minister and architect of the Oslo 
     Accords, told us of Sharon's need to negotiate with Arafat 
     even under fire. However, the latter's message of non-
     compromise is quite clear. Colonel (Res.) Yigal Carmon, 
     president of the Middle East Media and Research Institute, 
     proved to us that the Arab leaders use double-talk in English 
     and Arabic. They are denying the very basic assumptions of 
     Jewish peoplehood, its link to the land of Israel and sacred 
     bond to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, intent on covering Israel 
     with Palestinian refugees, whom they abandoned. Employing 
     traditional anti-Semitism, they also disregard the Holocaust 
     and continue to teach their children to demonize Israelis and 
     become terrorist-martyrs.
       Israel can not afford to give up its vision of peace for 
     itself and its neighbors, it is rooted in its very being, 
     sacrificing so long, much for it. For now, it must insist 
     that survival comes first till Abba Eban's proven maxim will 
     be disproved that ``the Palestinians never miss an 
     opportunity to miss an opportunity.''

     

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