Tom Lantos: “I commend our colleague from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, for his effort in introducing this is resolution and I am…”

“I commend our colleague from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, for his effort in introducing this is resolution and I am delighted to join him extending the heartfelt congratulations of the Congress and the American people to the Israeli people in recognition of the 57th anniversary of their independence, which they celebrated this month. Mr. Speaker, Israel is a tiny island of refuge in the midst of a roiling sea of hostile neighbors. Although relentlessly under attack since their nation's birth, the Israeli people have succeeded in creating the only democracy in the Middle East, and one of the most prosperous, technologically advanced, and reliably just societies on earth. In the 57 years of its independence, Israel has absorbed millions of Jewish immigrants from all around the world, including over a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union in just the past 15 years. This is a remarkable and unprecedented achievement for a country whose population was only 600,000 in 1948. Israel has given immigrants the opportunity to live lives of dignity and equality in a free society-- people who otherwise would have lived, at best, as second- or third- class citizens in the countries they left behind. An indication of the vibrancy and vitality of Israeli democracy, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that Israel celebrates its anniversary this year as it prepares to resettle civilian settlements and disengage its military forces from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.…”