[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5873]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  CELEBRATING U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP

  (Mr. DEUTCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli 
Independence Day, to celebrate the U.S.-Israel relationship.
  Sixty-eight years ago, the Israeli Declaration of Independence 
announced that Israel ``will be based on freedom, justice and peace as 
envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality 
of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of 
religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, 
conscience, language, education and culture.''
  To those who seek to undermine and delegitimize Israel at the U.N., I 
suggest that you ask whether your own countries value complete equality 
for everyone, irrespective of religion, race, or sex, or whether you 
even strive for that equality.
  To those who engage in economic warfare against Israel through 
boycotts, especially on college campuses, I ask why you attack a 
country that shares our own values of equality and freedom and vibrant 
debate even as you ignore those countries and regimes that subjugate 
the rights of their own people, those for whom women's equality, LGBT 
rights, religious tolerance, and open political discourse are anathema 
to their leaders and those who encourage terrorism against innocent 
Israelis.
  Mr. Speaker, as President Johnson said: ``America and Israel have a 
common love of human freedom and they have a common faith in a 
democratic way of life.''
  I stand proudly here today in deep support of our love of human 
freedom and unyielding support of our faith in a democratic way of life 
and in strong support of our great ally Israel on her 68th anniversary.

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