Political Quotes

“today the Senate joins the people of Israel as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. The Six-Day War began after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, spurred on by the Soviet Union, conspired with Syria, Jordan, and Iraq to have the people of Israel ``thrown into the sea.'' Nasser persuaded U.N. Secretary General U Thant to withdraw peacekeeping forces from the Gaza strip which for 10 years had acted as a buffer between Israel and Egypt. The Egyptians began amassing troops in the Sinai. Israel, surrounded by 250,000 Arab troops preparing for war, launched a devastating pre-preemptive strike on June 5. The war was a significant event in Israeli history and resulted in the reunification of Jerusalem, which before the war had been divided with all access to the Old City and its holy sites denied to Jews. I have been involved with this particular issue in some measure since my tenure as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1975.”