Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, passage of this bill today will finally begin to bring closure for a group of Syrian Americans who have been persecuted for over 50 years. In 1944, after Syria gained its independence from France, several of the first acts taken by the fledgling government were designed to persecute Syria's small 2,500-year-old Jewish minority. Jewish immigration to Palestine was prohibited. The teaching of Hebrew was severely restricted. Boycotts were ordered against Jewish businesses. When the partition of Israel was declared in 1947, mobs in Aleppo attacked the Syrian Jewish community; over 200 homes were destroyed. Scores of Jews were slaughtered and synagogues were literally torched. Thousands of Jews illegally fled Syria to go to Israel. In the years since 1947, the Jews' situation in Syria worsened. They were not permitted to emigrate.”