[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12596-12597]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING AN ARTICLE BY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN, SPIRITUAL LEADER OF 
            CONGREGATION BETH CHAVERIM IN VIRGINIA BEACH, VA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. J. RANDY FORBES

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 26, 2006

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce an article written 
by Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth 
Chaverim in Virginia Beach, VA. The article by Rabbi Zoberman reads as 
follows:

       Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's successful first official 
     visit recently to the United States was an expected formality 
     between the leaders of two close and long-standing allies. It 
     was also an essential opportunity for the Israeli Prime 
     Minister to extend the intimate bond between his predecessor 
     Ariel Sharon and President Bush, which Sharon learned to 
     carefully cultivate, to his own budding relationship with a 
     mighty and necessary friend.
       Olmert, a skilled politician who has been moving away from 
     a somewhat abrasive demeanor, did find the right words of 
     gratitude, deference and shared sentiment. In his granted 
     appearance as a special guest before a joint session of 
     Congress, he received no less than 17 standing ovations 
     reflecting America's genuine sympathy for the Jewish state 
     which transcends those who happen to be in power on either 
     side at a given time.
       In fact, the vital alliance born of common values and 
     interest between the senior and junior partners, has assumed 
     a heightened relevancy following 9/11 with the complex war on 
     terrorism and the costly thrust to bring democracy's freedoms 
     to the Middle East and beyond. Who more than the ever 
     beleaguered State of Israel has experienced what terrorizing 
     onslaught on innocent civilians and a cherished way of life 
     is all about?
       The President gave his approving nod to the Prime 
     Minister's unilateral plan of the ``realignment'' (the latest 
     term) of Israel's future borders in the absence of a peace 
     partner. The Palestinian Hamas-led government even rejects 
     Israel's right to exist and is locked in a deadly struggle of 
     a civil war nature with Fatah over running the Palestinian 
     Authority. When will the Palestinians stop the tragic cycle 
     of never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity? 
     Olmert voiced support for the seemingly moribund Road Map 
     which Bush welcomed, as the President reiterated his embrace 
     of Israel's determination to hold onto its large settlement 
     blocks on the West Bank while relinquishing control over 
     sparsely populated territory to allow for the creation of a 
     Palestinian state.
       The Prime Minister, a former Mayor of challenge-laden 
     Jerusalem, is yet to be tested in Israel's hot political 
     crucible in his country's top position. It is doubtless that 
     he was given an extraordinary historic opportunity to affect 
     Israel's destiny and fully implement the vision of Sharon who 
     was so suddenly incapacitated at the height of his popularity 
     and on the threshold of fateful decisions having accomplished 
     the controversial Gaza disengagement. But likely the 
     highlight of Olmert's visit to the capital of the world's 
     only remaining superpower was the stern warning he poignantly 
     delivered concerning the impending threat from Iran, and his 
     revelation that the terror sponsoring radical Muslim regime 
     ghoulishly calling for Israel's elimination while denying the 
     Holocaust is almost within reach, closer than anticipated of 
     developing a nuclear capability.
       One wonders if the Prime Minister personally presented the 
     priceless gift of supporting intelligence reports, thus 
     nailing the unavoidable response that the United States and 
     the West are saddled with at this very hour. The risks of 
     hesitant inaction though far outweighs those of resolute 
     action, sending a powerful message that tyrannical blackmail 
     is unacceptable and that the resolve of free nations to 
     prevail is unshakeable. An ambiguous response invites

[[Page 12597]]

     further aggression with rising costs. Iran's mullahs' 
     genocidal design on Israel, with Europe as a potential target 
     as well while seeking hegemony in a critical region, ought to 
     alarm us enough. What should however be clear is that 
     Israel's only option is to survive, it simply can not afford 
     to absorb a first nuclear strike. Have we not internalized by 
     now History's painful lessons, are we doomed to forever 
     repeat the past? I pray not.

  Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chaverim 
in Virginia Beach, was born to Polish Holocaust survivors in Chu, 
Kazakhstan, in 1945 and raised in Haifa, Israel.

                          ____________________