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June 26, 2003
Orthodox Union Hails House Passage of Resolutions
against Anti-Semitism and Expressing Solidarity with Israel
The Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish synagogue
organization, applauded the passage of two resolutions by the House of
Representatives yesterday. H.Con.Res. 49 expresses the profound concern of
the House at the escalation of anti-Semitic violence in Europe, including
in many participating States of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which recently held a conference on
anti-Semitism in Vienna. The second resolution, H.Res. 294, condemns the
violence and terrorism inflicted on Israel since the Aqaba summit,
characterized by increased bus bombings and shootings. H.Res. 294
expresses U.S. solidarity with the people of Israel and calls upon the
Palestinian Authority to take immediate and effective steps to dismantle
the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza as recently
promised by the leadership of the Palestinian Authority in Aqaba. The
Institute for Public Affairs of the Orthodox Union strongly supported
these resolutions and actively advocated for their passage and praises
Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) for introducing
H.Con.Res. 49 and Representatives Tom Lantos (D-CA), Tom DeLay (R-TX),
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Henry Hyde (R-IL) for introducing H.Con.Res. 294.
Since the rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric, vandalism, and violence that has
affected European Jewry since September 2000, the IPA/OU has been
consistently monitoring attacks on European Jews and calling the attention
of elected officials to their plight. Since many synagogues and Jewish
schools in Europe have been firebombed and destroyed, Jews have been
physically assaulted, and Jewish children taunted at school, we remember
events of nearly 60 years ago and cannot stand by and ignore this alarming
trend. We are pleased that H.Con.Res. 49 calls upon U.S. Administration
officials and Members of Congress to place the issue of anti-Semitism high
on the agenda in bilateral and multilateral meetings with foreign
officials. It also calls upon OSCE member states to bring those who
perpetrate anti-Semitic acts to justice and to strengthen all their
efforts to educate against anti-Semitic stereotypes and bigotry and urges
European governments to provide safety and security for European Jewish
communities. H.Con.Res. 49 sends a clear message that the United States
government will continue to be actively engaged in monitoring and fighting
anti-Semitism in Europe.
The Orthodox Union also hailed the passage of H.Res. 294, which supports
Israel in its justified use of force as a response to Palestinian
terrorist attacks. The resolution also makes clear that peace cannot be
made while terrorism is being perpetrated, and that no productive
negotiations or dialogue can be conducted with terrorists. It also debunks
the notion of “moral equivalence”, expressed as the “cycle of violence”,
that is used to imply moral equivalence between terrorists and their
victims, and calls for its rejection as a description of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Terrorism can never be justified, and Israel
is justified in its use of counter-terrorist operations as the response of
a legitimate government that is defending the safety and security of all
her citizens.
The Orthodox Union again applauds Congress for its efforts to cultivate a
climate in which all forms of anti-Semitism are rejected and defeated and
for its support of Israel in the war against terrorism.
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